cível vs civil, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

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

5 ch

cível

5 ch

civil

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

cível#30,490

civil#695

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cível" and "civil" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈsi.vɛɫ/ versus /si.ˈviɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "cível" or "civil"?

"civil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #695 in our Portuguese list, against #30,490 for "cível". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cível vs civil

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 “cível” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable