simãovssumoTell them apart

Quick tell: simão is a noun, sumo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“simão” is a noun and “sumo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,739
“simão” frequency rank
#9,264
“sumo” frequency rank
21003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature simão sumo
Definition o primeiro farelo que se obtém ao peneirar a farinha supremo, máximo

Letter map: simão vs sumo

Shared letters muted; letters that set simão and sumo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
simão
4 ch
sumo

Role in the sentence - simão and sumo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: simão is anoun and sumoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21003, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

simão is recorded at frequency rank #11,739, classified as anoun, pronounced /si.'moŋ/. sumo is at rank #9,264, 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 21003, this pair ranks #49,370 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of simão vs sumo

Shared letters: mos. Private to "simão": . Private to "sumo": u.

"simão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "sumo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sumosmuo · ssumo · summo · suom · usmo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "simão" for "sumo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "simão" is a noun and "sumo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "simão" or "sumo" show up more?
"sumo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,264 in our Portuguese list, against #11,739 for "simão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "simão" vs "sumo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "simão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sumo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,370 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "simão" and "sumo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sueño vs sumo". 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 #49,370 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