samavsSauTell them apart

Quick tell: sama is a pronoun, Sau is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sama” is a pronoun and “Sau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,025
“sama” frequency rank
#49,171
“Sau” frequency rank
77196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sama Sau
Definition forma nominativo feminino singular do pronome sám porco

Letter map: sama vs Sau

Shared letters muted; letters that set sama and Sau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
sama
3 ch
Sau

Role in the sentence - sama and Sau

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sama is apronoun and Sauanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sama is recorded at frequency rank #28,025, classified as apron. Sau is at rank #49,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced /zaʊ̯/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 77196, this pair ranks #1,937 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sama vs Sau

Shared letters: as. Private to "sama": m. Private to "Sau": u.

"sama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Sau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • samasaam · samma · smaa · ssama

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sama" and "Sau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sama" is a pronoun and "Sau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sama" vs "Sau" - which ranks higher?
"sama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,025 in our Portuguese list, against #49,171 for "Sau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sama" and "Sau".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,937 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sama" and "Sau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs soap". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,937 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list