sopavssumaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,351
“sopa” frequency rank
#7,978
“suma” frequency rank
12329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sopa suma
Definition comida líquida ou pastosa, cozida, normalmente com vegetais e carne resumo

Where the eye mixes sopa and suma

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

4 ch
sopa
4 ch
suma

Why the eye confuses sopa with suma

A purely visual mix-up. sopa (/ˈso.pɐ/) and suma (/ˈsu.mɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sopa is recorded at frequency rank #4,351, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈso.pɐ/. suma is at rank #7,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsu.mɐ/.

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 12329, this pair ranks #60,305 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sopa vs suma

Shared letters: as. Private to "sopa": op. Private to "suma": mu.

"sopa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "suma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sopaospa · soppa · spoa · ssopa
  • sumasmua · ssuma · suam · summa · usma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sopa" for "suma" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈso.pɐ/ versus /ˈsu.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sopa" or "suma"?
"sopa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,351 in our Portuguese list, against #7,978 for "suma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sopa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,305 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sopa" and "suma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sudan vs suma". 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 #60,305 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