cívicovsclínicoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,485
“cívico” frequency rank
#13,687
“clínico” frequency rank
30172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cívico clínico
Definition relativo ao civil relacionado ou ligado à clínica

Letter map: cívico vs clínico

Shared letters muted; letters that set cívico and clínico apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. cívico runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against clínico's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cívico
7 ch
clínico

Corpus notes: cívico and clínico

cívico and clínico are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cívico is recorded at frequency rank #16,485, classified as anadj. clínico is at rank #13,687, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkli.ni.ku/.

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 30172, this pair ranks #38,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cívico vs clínico

Shared letters: cioí. Private to "cívico": v. Private to "clínico": ln.

"cívico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "clínico" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cívico" and "clínico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cívico" or "clínico" show up more?
"clínico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,687 in our Portuguese list, against #16,485 for "cívico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cívico" and "clínico".

  • Full dictionary entry for "cívico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clínico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cívico" and "clínico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cívico vs cúbico". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list