sobrarvssóbrioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sobrar is a verb, sóbrio is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sobrar” is a verb and “sóbrio” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,849
“sobrar” frequency rank
#19,003
“sóbrio” frequency rank
38852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sobrar sóbrio
Definition subsistir como resto, sobra ou remanescente; existir ou estar ainda disponível; conservar-se, ficar, restar, permanecer sério, discreto

Letter map: sobrar vs sóbrio

Shared letters muted; letters that set sobrar and sóbrio apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. sobrar (CVCCVC) and sóbrio (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
sobrar
6 ch
sóbrio

Part-of-speech tell for sobrar / sóbrio

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sobrar is averb and sóbrioanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sobrar is recorded at frequency rank #19,849, classified as averb, pronounced /su.ˈbɾaɾ/. sóbrio is at rank #19,003, 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 38852, this pair ranks #27,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sobrar vs sóbrio

Shared letters: bors. Private to "sobrar": a. Private to "sóbrio": ió.

"sobrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sóbrio" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sobrar ← osbrar · sborar · sobarr · sobbrar · sobrarr · sobrra · sobrrar · sorbar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sobrar" and "sóbrio" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sobrar" is a verb and "sóbrio" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sobrar" vs "sóbrio" - which ranks higher?
"sóbrio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,003 in our Portuguese list, against #19,849 for "sobrar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sobrar" and "sóbrio".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sobrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sóbrio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sobrar" and "sóbrio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sobrar vs sondar". 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 #27,526 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