somvssuorConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,134
“som” frequency rank
#10,091
“suor” frequency rank
11225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature som suor
Definition onda longitudinal transmitida pela matéria e que podemos ouvir (geralmente entre 20Hz e 20kHz): líquido segregado pelas glândulas da pele

Where the eye mixes som and suor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
som
4 ch
suor

Look-alike desk: som vs suor

A purely visual mix-up. som (/ˈsõ/) and suor (/su.ˈɔɾ/) 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 11225, 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/. suor is at rank #10,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /su.ˈɔɾ/.

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 11225, this pair ranks #61,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of som vs suor

Shared letters: os. Private to "som": m. Private to "suor": ru.

"som" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "suor" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suorsour · ssuor · suorr · suro · usor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "som" and "suor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsõ/ versus /su.ˈɔɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "som" or "suor" show up more?
"som" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,134 in our Portuguese list, against #10,091 for "suor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "som" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "som" and "suor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soir vs suor". 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 #61,677 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