soltavssovaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“solta” and “sova” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,270
“solta” frequency rank
#43,164
“sova” frequency rank
47434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature solta sova
Definition ato ou efeito de soltar coruja

Where the eye mixes solta and sova

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. solta runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against sova's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
solta
4 ch
sova

Why the eye confuses solta with sova

A purely visual mix-up. solta (/ˈsoɫ.tɐ/) and sova (/ˈsɔva) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

solta is recorded at frequency rank #4,270, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsoɫ.tɐ/. sova is at rank #43,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɔva.

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 47434, this pair ranks #17,815 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of solta vs sova

Shared letters: aos. Private to "solta": lt. Private to "sova": v.

"solta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sova" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • solta ← oslta · slota · solat · sollta · soltta · sotla · ssolta
  • sova ← osva · soav · sovva · ssova · svoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "solta" and "sova" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsoɫ.tɐ/ versus /ˈsɔva) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "solta" vs "sova" - which ranks higher?
"solta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,270 in our Portuguese list, against #43,164 for "sova". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "solta" and "sova" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "solta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sova" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,815 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "solta" and "sova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soap vs sova". 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 #17,815 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