Which to use
“triste” is an adjective and “tristeza” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,203
- “triste” frequency rank
- #3,442
- “tristeza” frequency rank
- 4645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | triste | tristeza |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | afetado por infelicidade ou dor | sentimento de pesar, melancolia |
Letter map: triste vs tristeza
Shared letters muted; letters that set triste and tristeza apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. triste runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against tristeza's 8 (CCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for triste / tristeza
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: triste is anadjective and tristezaanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “triste” sits inside “tristeza”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
triste is recorded at frequency rank #1,203, classified as anadj. tristeza is at rank #3,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɾiʃ.ˈte.zɐ/.
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 4645, this pair ranks #70,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of triste vs tristeza
Shared letters: eirst. Private to "triste": -. Private to "tristeza": az.
"triste" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "tristeza" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "triste" and "tristeza" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "triste" vs "tristeza" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "triste" and "tristeza".
- Full dictionary entry for "triste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tristeza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "triste" and "tristeza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "traste vs triste". 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 #70,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.