são vs só, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“são” and “só” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34
“são” frequency rank: #50
“só” frequency rank: 84
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	são	só
Definition	saudável	solitário, sem companhia, sem círculo social

Where the eye mixes são and só

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

são

2 ch

só

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. são (/ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and só (/ˈsɔ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

são is recorded at frequency rank #34, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɐ̃w̃/. só is at rank #50, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɔ/.

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 84, this pair ranks #75,569 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of são vs só

Shared letters: s. Private to "são": oã. Private to "só": ó.

"são" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "só" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "são" and "só" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈsɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "são" or "só"?

"são" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34 in our Portuguese list, against #50 for "só". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "são" and "só". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "são" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "só" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #75,569 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"são" and "só" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "só vs soap". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.