Which to use
“suspense” is a noun and “suspenso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,619
- “suspense” frequency rank
- #7,088
- “suspenso” frequency rank
- 17707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspense | suspenso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gênero da ficção que contém um pouco de mistério | que está pendurado, sustido no ar: |
Where the eye mixes suspense and suspenso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. suspense and suspenso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses suspense with suspenso
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suspense is /suʃ.ˈpsɨ/ while suspenso is /suʃ.ˈpẽ.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “suspense” becomes o in “suspenso”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspense is recorded at frequency rank #10,619, classified as anoun, pronounced /suʃ.ˈpsɨ/. suspenso is at rank #7,088, tagged as anadj, pronounced /suʃ.ˈpẽ.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 17707, this pair ranks #53,475 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suspense vs suspenso
Shared letters: enpsu. Private to "suspense": -. Private to "suspenso": o.
"suspense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "suspenso" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suspense" for "suspenso" ever safe?
Which is more common, "suspense" or "suspenso"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "suspense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suspenso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,475 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suspense" and "suspenso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suspender vs suspense". 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 #53,475 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.