cisãovscismaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,806
“cisão” frequency rank
#32,106
“cisma” frequency rank
68912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cisão cisma
Definition ato de cindir ato de cismar, de cogitar

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
cisão
5 ch
cisma

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cisão (/si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and cisma (/ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) 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 68912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cisão is recorded at frequency rank #36,806, classified as anoun, pronounced /si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. cisma is at rank #32,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/.

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 68912, this pair ranks #4,108 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cisão vs cisma

Shared letters: cis. Private to "cisão": . Private to "cisma": am.

"cisão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "cisma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cismaccisma · cimsa · cisam · cismma · cissma · csima · icsma

Frequency comparison

cisão#36,806
cisma#32,106

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cisão" and "cisma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/si.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈsiʒ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cisão" or "cisma"?
"cisma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,106 in our Portuguese list, against #36,806 for "cisão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cisão vs cisma

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 “cisão” 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