Which to use
“subtil” is an adjective and “sutiã” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,344
- “subtil” frequency rank
- #12,780
- “sutiã” frequency rank
- 53124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | subtil | sutiã |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tênue, fino | peça do vestuário feminino que serve para dar suporte, modelar ou cobrir os seios |
Where the eye mixes subtil and sutiã
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. subtil runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sutiã's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between subtil and sutiã
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: subtil is /sub.ˈtiɫ/ while sutiã is /su.tʃi.ˈɐ̃/, /su.ˈt͡ʃjɐ̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
subtil is recorded at frequency rank #40,344, classified as anadj, pronounced /sub.ˈtiɫ/. sutiã is at rank #12,780, tagged as anoun, pronounced /su.tʃi.ˈɐ̃/, /su.ˈt͡ʃjɐ̃/.
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 53124, this pair ranks #12,275 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of subtil vs sutiã
Shared letters: istu. Private to "subtil": bl. Private to "sutiã": ã.
"subtil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sutiã" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- subtil ← sbutil · ssubtil · subbtil · subitl · subtill · subtli · subttil · sutbil
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "subtil" for "sutiã" ever safe?
Frequency check: "subtil" vs "sutiã" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "subtil" and "sutiã" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "subtil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sutiã" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,275 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "subtil" and "sutiã" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sutiã vs sutura". 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 #12,275 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.