Which to use
“suspensão” and “suspense” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,185
- “suspensão” frequency rank
- #10,619
- “suspense” frequency rank
- 14804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspensão | suspense |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de suspender(-se) | gênero da ficção que contém um pouco de mistério |
Where the eye mixes suspensão and suspense
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. suspensão runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVV) against suspense's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses suspensão with suspense
A purely visual mix-up. suspensão (/suʃ.pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and suspense (/suʃ.ˈpsɨ/) 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 14804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspensão is recorded at frequency rank #4,185, classified as anoun, pronounced /suʃ.pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. suspense is at rank #10,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /suʃ.ˈpsɨ/.
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 14804, this pair ranks #57,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of suspensão vs suspense
Shared letters: enpsu. Private to "suspensão": oã. Private to "suspense": -.
"suspensão" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV · "suspense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- suspense ← ssupense · ssuspense · supsense · susepnse · suspenes · suspennse · suspensse · suspesne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "suspensão" and "suspense" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "suspensão" or "suspense"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "suspensão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suspense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suspensão" and "suspense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suspeição vs suspensão". 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 #57,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.