civscitoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ci is a pronoun, cito is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ci” is a pronoun and “cito” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,655
“ci” frequency rank
#25,237
“cito” frequency rank
44892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ci cito
Definition tu, pronome pessoal sujeito da segunda pessoa do singular: fazer mover-se, excitar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ci and cito apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch
ci
4 ch
cito

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ci is /tsi/ while cito is /ˈki.toː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ci” sits inside “cito”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ci is recorded at frequency rank #19,655, classified as apron, pronounced /tsi/. cito is at rank #25,237, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈki.toː/.

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 44892, this pair ranks #20,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ci vs cito

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ci": -. Private to "cito": ot.

"ci" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "cito" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citoccito · ciot · citto · ctio · icto

Frequency comparison

ci#19,655
cito#25,237

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ci" and "cito" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ci" is a pronoun and "cito" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ci" or "cito"?
"ci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,655 in our Portuguese list, against #25,237 for "cito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ci vs cito

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “ci”; for a verb, it's “cito”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ci” 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