safevssairWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,193
“safe” frequency rank
#290
“sair” frequency rank
26483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature safe sair
Definition primeira ou terceira pessoa do presente subjuntivo de safar passar de dentro para fora; deixar

Where the eye mixes safe and sair

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
safe
4 ch
sair

Look-alike desk: safe vs sair

A purely visual mix-up. safe (/seɪf/, enPR: sāf) and sair (/sɐ.ˈiɾ/) 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 26483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

safe is recorded at frequency rank #26,193, classified as averb, pronounced /seɪf/, enPR: sāf. sair is at rank #290, tagged as averb, pronounced /sɐ.ˈiɾ/.

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 26483, this pair ranks #42,674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of safe vs sair

Shared letters: as. Private to "safe": ef. Private to "sair": ir.

"safe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "sair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • safeasfe · saef · saffe · sfae · ssafe
  • sairasir · sairr · sari · siar · ssair

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "safe" and "sair" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/seɪf/, enPR: sāf versus /sɐ.ˈiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "safe" or "sair"?
"sair" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #290 in our Portuguese list, against #26,193 for "safe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "safe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sair" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "safe" and "sair" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "safe vs Sau". 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 #42,674 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