Which to use
“cível” and “civil” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,490
- “cível” frequency rank
- #695
- “civil” frequency rank
- 31185
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cível | civil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | relativo ao direito civil; civil | relativo ao direito civil |
Where the eye mixes cível and civil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cível and civil follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cível vs civil
A purely visual mix-up. cível (/ˈsi.vɛɫ/) and civil (/si.ˈviɫ/) 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 31185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cível is recorded at frequency rank #30,490, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsi.vɛɫ/. civil is at rank #695, tagged as anadj, pronounced /si.ˈviɫ/.
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 31185, this pair ranks #36,982 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cível vs civil
Shared letters: clv. Private to "cível": eí. Private to "civil": i.
"cível" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "civil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- civil ← ccivil · ciivl · civill · civli · civvil · cviil · icvil
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cível" and "civil" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cível" or "civil" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cível" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "civil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,982 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cível" and "civil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cibele vs cível". 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 #36,982 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.