somvssusConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,134
“som” frequency rank
#7,578
“sus” frequency rank
8712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature som sus
Definition onda longitudinal transmitida pela matéria e que podemos ouvir (geralmente entre 20Hz e 20kHz): interjeição que demonstra impaciência (século XVI)

Letter map: som vs sus

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

3 ch
som
3 ch
sus

Part-of-speech tell for som / sus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: som is anoun and susanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8712, 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/. sus is at rank #7,578, tagged as anintj.

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 8712, this pair ranks #64,966 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of som vs sus

Shared letters: s. Private to "som": mo. Private to "sus": u.

"som" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "sus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "som" and "sus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "som" is a noun and "sus" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "som" or "sus" show up more?
"som" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,134 in our Portuguese list, against #7,578 for "sus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "som" and "sus". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "som" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,966 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "som" and "sus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #64,966 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