sertão vs sessão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,834
“sertão” frequency rank: #1,830
“sessão” frequency rank: 9664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sertão	sessão
Definition	zona pouco habitada do interior do Brasil, sobretudo a região semi-árida do norte-ocidental	tempo durante o qual um corpo deliberativo se reúne

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sertão and sessão apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

sertão

6 ch

sessão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

sertão and sessão 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 9664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sertão is recorded at frequency rank #7,834, classified as anoun. sessão is at rank #1,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɨ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 9664, this pair ranks #63,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sertão vs sessão

Shared letters: eosã. Private to "sertão": rt. Private to "sessão": -.

"sertão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "sessão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

sertão#7,834

sessão#1,830

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sertão" and "sessão" 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.

Which is more common, "sertão" or "sessão"?

"sessão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,830 in our Portuguese list, against #7,834 for "sertão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sertão vs sessão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sertão” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable