saudade vs saudar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“saudade” is a noun and “saudar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,350
“saudade” frequency rank: #26,891
“saudar” frequency rank: 32241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	saudade	saudar
Definition	memória ou recordação grata de pessoas, familiares ou objetos	cumprimentar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set saudade and saudar apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

saudade

6 ch

saudar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: saudade is anoun and saudaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saudade is recorded at frequency rank #5,350, classified as anoun, pronounced /saw.ˈda.dʒi/. saudar is at rank #26,891, tagged as averb.

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 32241, this pair ranks #35,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of saudade vs saudar

Shared letters: adsu. Private to "saudade": e. Private to "saudar": r.

"saudade" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "saudar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

saudade ← asudade · saduade · sauadde · saudadde · saudaed · sauddade · sauddae · ssaudade
saudar ← asudar · saduar · sauadr · saudarr · sauddar · saudra · ssaudar · suadar

Frequency comparison

saudade#5,350

saudar#26,891

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saudade" and "saudar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saudade" is a noun and "saudar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "saudade" or "saudar"?

"saudade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,350 in our Portuguese list, against #26,891 for "saudar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering saudade vs saudar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “saudade”; for a verb, it's “saudar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “saudade” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable