sãovssuaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34
“são” frequency rank
#32
“sua” frequency rank
66
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature são sua
Definition saudável que tem você como objeto

Letter map: são vs sua

Shared letters muted; letters that set são and sua apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
são
3 ch
sua

Pair insight - são / sua

são and sua are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

são is recorded at frequency rank #34, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɐ̃w̃/. sua is at rank #32, tagged as anadj.

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 66, this pair ranks #75,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of são vs sua

Shared letters: s. Private to "são": . Private to "sua": au.

"são" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "sua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "são" and "sua" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "são" vs "sua" - which ranks higher?
"sua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our Portuguese list, against #34 for "são". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "são" and "sua".

  • Full dictionary entry for "são" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "são" and "sua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "são vs soap". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,582 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