Which to use
“sair” is a verb and “Sau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #290
- “sair” frequency rank
- #49,171
- “Sau” frequency rank
- 49461
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sair | Sau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | passar de dentro para fora; deixar | porco |
Where the eye mixes sair and Sau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against Sau's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sair vs Sau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sair is /sɐ.ˈiɾ/ while Sau is /zaʊ̯/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sair is recorded at frequency rank #290, classified as averb, pronounced /sɐ.ˈiɾ/. Sau is at rank #49,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced /zaʊ̯/.
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 49461, this pair ranks #15,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sair vs Sau
Shared letters: as. Private to "sair": ir. Private to "Sau": u.
"sair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Sau" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sair ← asir · sairr · sari · siar · ssair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sair" for "Sau" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sair" or "Sau"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Sau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sair" and "Sau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs soap". 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 #15,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.