solovssumoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,451
“solo” frequency rank
#9,264
“sumo” frequency rank
10715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature solo sumo
Definition terra supremo, máximo

Letter map: solo vs sumo

Shared letters muted; letters that set solo and sumo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
solo
4 ch
sumo

Role in the sentence - solo and sumo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: solo is anoun and sumoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

solo is recorded at frequency rank #1,451, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɔ.lu/. 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 10715, this pair ranks #62,310 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of solo vs sumo

Shared letters: os. Private to "solo": l. Private to "sumo": mu.

"solo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sumo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • solooslo · sloo · sollo · sool · ssolo
  • sumosmuo · ssumo · summo · suom · usmo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "solo" for "sumo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "solo" is a noun and "sumo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "solo" or "sumo" show up more?
"solo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,451 in our Portuguese list, against #9,264 for "sumo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "solo" and "sumo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "solo" 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 #62,310 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "solo" 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 #62,310 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