cimavscisãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cima” and “cisão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#580
“cima” frequency rank
#36,806
“cisão” frequency rank
37386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cima cisão
Definition a parte superior de alguma coisa; alto, cume, cimeira, topo ato de cindir

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
cima
5 ch
cisão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cima (/ˈsi.mɐ/) and cisão (/si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 37386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cima is recorded at frequency rank #580, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsi.mɐ/. cisão is at rank #36,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 37386, this pair ranks #29,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cima vs cisão

Shared letters: ci. Private to "cima": am. Private to "cisão": osã.

"cima" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cisão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cimaccima · ciam · cimma · cmia · icma

Frequency comparison

cima#580
cisão#36,806

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cima" and "cisão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsi.mɐ/ versus /si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cima" or "cisão"?
"cima" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #580 in our Portuguese list, against #36,806 for "cisão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cima vs cisão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cima” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list