Which to use
“sail” and “sis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,054
- “sail” frequency rank
- #12,501
- “sis” frequency rank
- 19555
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sail | sis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes. | Clipping of sister. |
Where the eye mixes sail and sis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sail with sis
A purely visual mix-up. sail (/seɪl/) and sis (/sɪs/) 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 19555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sail is recorded at frequency rank #7,054, classified as anoun, pronounced /seɪl/. sis is at rank #12,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪs/.
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 19555, this pair ranks #437,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sail vs sis
Shared letters: is. Private to "sail": al. Private to "sis": -.
"sail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sail ← asil · saill · sali · sial · ssail
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sail" for "sis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sail" or "sis"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sail" and "sis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sail" and "sis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sis vs suds". 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 #437,365 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.