Which to use
“shake” is a noun and “suave” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,206
- “shake” frequency rank
- #4,184
- “suave” frequency rank
- 19390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shake | suave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sacudidela, abalo, tremor | agradável aos sentidos |
Where the eye mixes shake and suave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between shake and suave
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: shake is /'ʃeɪk/ while suave is /ˈswa.vɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19390, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shake is recorded at frequency rank #15,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /'ʃeɪk/. suave is at rank #4,184, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈswa.vɨ/.
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 19390, this pair ranks #51,341 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shake vs suave
Shared letters: aes. Private to "shake": hk. Private to "suave": uv.
"shake" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "suave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shake" for "suave" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shake" vs "suave" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "shake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,341 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shake" and "suave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shake vs shire". 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 #51,341 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.