só vs sus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“só” is an adjective and “sus” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#50
“só” frequency rank: #7,578
“sus” frequency rank: 7628
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	só	sus
Definition	solitário, sem companhia, sem círculo social	interjeição que demonstra impaciência (século XVI)

Letter map: só vs sus

Shared letters muted; letters that set só and sus apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

só

3 ch

sus

Grammar separator: só vs sus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: só is anadjective and susanintj. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

só is recorded at frequency rank #50, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɔ/. sus is at rank #7,578, tagged as anintj.

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 7628, this pair ranks #66,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of só vs sus

Shared letters: s. Private to "só": ó. Private to "sus": u.

"só" · 2 letters · shape CV · "sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "só" and "sus" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "só" is an adjective and "sus" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "só" vs "sus" - which ranks higher?

"só" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #50 in our Portuguese list, against #7,578 for "sus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "só" vs "sus" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "só" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #66,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"só" and "sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,482 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.