sulcovssumiçoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,610
“sulco” frequency rank
#21,888
“sumiço” frequency rank
67498
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sulco sumiço
Definition rego ato ou efeito de sumir; desaparecimento

Where the eye mixes sulco and sumiço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sulco runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against sumiço's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
sulco
6 ch
sumiço

Look-alike desk: sulco vs sumiço

A purely visual mix-up. sulco (/ˈsuɫ.ku/) and sumiço (/su.ˈmi.su/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sulco is recorded at frequency rank #45,610, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsuɫ.ku/. sumiço is at rank #21,888, tagged as anoun, pronounced /su.ˈmi.su/.

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 67498, this pair ranks #4,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sulco vs sumiço

Shared letters: osu. Private to "sulco": cl. Private to "sumiço": imç.

"sulco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sumiço" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sulco ← sluco · ssulco · suclo · sulcco · sullco · suloc · uslco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sulco" and "sumiço" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsuɫ.ku/ versus /su.ˈmi.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sulco" vs "sumiço" - which ranks higher?
"sumiço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,888 in our Portuguese list, against #45,610 for "sulco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "sulco" and "sumiço" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sulco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sumiço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sulco" and "sumiço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sueño vs sulco". 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 #4,606 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