Which to use
“circo” and “cisão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,717
- “circo” frequency rank
- #36,806
- “cisão” frequency rank
- 42523
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | circo | cisão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em Roma, recinto onde se realizavam jogos para entretenimento público; o conjunto dos jogos | ato de cindir |
Where the eye mixes circo and cisão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. circo (CVCCV) and cisão (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: circo vs cisão
A purely visual mix-up. circo (/ˈsirku/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
circo is recorded at frequency rank #5,717, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsirku/. 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 42523, this pair ranks #23,247 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of circo vs cisão
Shared letters: cio. Private to "circo": r. Private to "cisão": sã.
"circo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cisão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- circo ← ccirco · cicro · circco · ciroc · cirrco · crico · icrco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "circo" for "cisão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "circo" or "cisão"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "circo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cisão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,247 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "circo" and "cisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciao vs cisão". 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 #23,247 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.