stevssuWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ste is a verb, su is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ste” is a verb and “su” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,242
“ste” frequency rank
#6,713
“su” frequency rank
42955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ste su
Definition segunda pessoa do plural do futuro do indicativo do verbo byť dele

Letter map: ste vs su

Shared letters muted; letters that set ste and su apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ste
2 ch
su

Grammar separator: ste vs su

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ste is averb and suanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ste is recorded at frequency rank #36,242, classified as averb. su is at rank #6,713, 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 42955, this pair ranks #22,744 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ste vs su

Shared letters: s. Private to "ste": et. Private to "su": u.

"ste" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "su" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ste" for "su" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ste" is a verb and "su" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ste" or "su" show up more?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,713 in our Portuguese list, against #36,242 for "ste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ste" and "su".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,744 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ste" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs ste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #22,744 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