somvssueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: som is a noun, sue is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,134
“som” frequency rank
#16,624
“sue” frequency rank
17758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature som sue
Definition onda longitudinal transmitida pela matéria e que podemos ouvir (geralmente entre 20Hz e 20kHz): forma sem gênero de seu ou sua

Letter map: som vs sue

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

3 ch
som
3 ch
sue

Part-of-speech tell for som / sue

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: som is anoun and sueapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17758, 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/. sue is at rank #16,624, tagged as apron.

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 17758, this pair ranks #53,406 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of som vs sue

Shared letters: s. Private to "som": mo. Private to "sue": eu.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "som" and "sue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "som" is a noun and "sue" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "som" vs "sue" - which ranks higher?
"som" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,134 in our Portuguese list, against #16,624 for "sue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "som" vs "sue" 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 "sue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,406 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "som" and "sue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sue vs sueño". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,406 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