somvssuaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,134
“som” frequency rank
#32
“sua” frequency rank
1166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature som sua
Definition onda longitudinal transmitida pela matéria e que podemos ouvir (geralmente entre 20Hz e 20kHz): que tem você como objeto

Letter map: som vs sua

Shared letters muted; letters that set som and sua apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
som
3 ch
sua

Part-of-speech tell for som / sua

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: som is anoun and suaanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

som is recorded at frequency rank #1,134, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsõ/. sua is at rank #32, 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 1166, this pair ranks #74,440 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of som vs sua

Shared letters: s. Private to "som": mo. Private to "sua": au.

"som" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "som" and "sua" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "som" is a noun and "sua" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "som" or "sua"?
"sua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our Portuguese list, against #1,134 for "som". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "som" vs "sua" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "som" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,440 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "som" and "sua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soap vs som". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,440 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