suadovssustoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,137
“suado” frequency rank
#8,693
“susto” frequency rank
31830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suado susto
Definition que está suando sobressalto causado por evento não esperado; surpresa vigorosa e momentânea

Where the eye mixes suado and susto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. suado (CVVCV) and susto (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
suado
5 ch
susto

Why the eye confuses suado with susto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suado is /ˈswa.du/ while susto is /ˈsuʃ.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suado is recorded at frequency rank #23,137, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈswa.du/. susto is at rank #8,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsuʃ.tu/.

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 31830, this pair ranks #36,138 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of suado vs susto

Shared letters: osu. Private to "suado": ad. Private to "susto": t.

"suado" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "susto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suado ← saudo · ssuado · suaddo · suaod · sudao
  • susto ← ssusto · ssuto · susot · sussto · sustto · sutso · ussto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "suado" for "susto" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "suado" is an adjective and "susto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "suado" vs "susto" - which ranks higher?
"susto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,693 in our Portuguese list, against #23,137 for "suado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "suado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "susto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,138 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suado" and "susto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suado vs sueño". 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 #36,138 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