signvssigueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sign is a noun, sigue is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sign” is a noun and “sigue” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,292
“sign” frequency rank
#346
“sigue” frequency rank
36638
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sign sigue
Definition Señal. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de seguir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sign and sigue apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
sign
5 ch
sigue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sign is /saɪn/ while sigue is [ˈsiɣ̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sign is recorded at frequency rank #36,292, classified as anoun, pronounced /saɪn/. sigue is at rank #346, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsiɣ̞e].

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 36638, this pair ranks #179,593 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sign vs sigue

Shared letters: gis. Private to "sign": n. Private to "sigue": eu.

"sign" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sigue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • signcign · isgn · sgin · siggn · signn · ssign
  • siguecigue · isgue · sgiue · sigeu · siggue · siuge · ssigue

Frequency comparison

sign#36,292
sigue#346

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sign" and "sigue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sign" is a noun and "sigue" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sign" or "sigue"?
"sigue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our Spanish list, against #36,292 for "sign". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering sign vs sigue

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “sign”; for a verb, it's “sigue”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sign” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list