civscoinWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,655
“ci” frequency rank
#41,891
“coin” frequency rank
61546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ci coin
Definition tu, pronome pessoal sujeito da segunda pessoa do singular: plural de cù

Where the spellings diverge

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

2 ch
ci
4 ch
coin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ci is /tsi/ while coin is /konʲ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61546, 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/. coin is at rank #41,891, tagged as anoun, pronounced /konʲ/.

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 61546, this pair ranks #7,092 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ci vs coin

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ci": -. Private to "coin": no.

"ci" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "coin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coinccoin · cion · coinn · coni · ocin

Frequency comparison

ci#19,655
coin#41,891

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ci" and "coin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ci" is a pronoun and "coin" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ci" or "coin"?
"ci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,655 in our Portuguese list, against #41,891 for "coin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ci vs coin

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “ci”; for a noun, it's “coin”.
  • 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