suvssumaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: su is a adjective, suma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,713
“su” frequency rank
#7,978
“suma” frequency rank
14691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature su suma
Definition dele resumo

Letter map: su vs suma

Shared letters muted; letters that set su and suma apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
su
4 ch
suma

Role in the sentence - su and suma

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: su is anadjective and sumaanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “su” sits inside “suma”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

su is recorded at frequency rank #6,713, classified as anadj. 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 14691, this pair ranks #57,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of su vs suma

Shared letters: su. Private to "su": -. Private to "suma": am.

"su" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "suma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sumasmua · ssuma · suam · summa · usma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "su" and "suma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "su" is an adjective and "suma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "su" vs "suma" - which ranks higher?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,713 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "su" 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 #57,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "su" 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 #57,312 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