Which to use
“sair” is a verb and “sie” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #290
- “sair” frequency rank
- #40,788
- “sie” frequency rank
- 41078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sair | sie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | passar de dentro para fora; deixar | ela, pronome pessoal feminino do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do singular: |
Where the eye mixes sair and sie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against sie's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sair and sie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sair is /sɐ.ˈiɾ/ while sie is /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41078, 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/. sie is at rank #40,788, tagged as apron, pronounced /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 41078, this pair ranks #24,924 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sair vs sie
Shared letters: is. Private to "sair": ar. Private to "sie": e.
"sair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "sie" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sair ← asir · sairr · sari · siar · ssair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sair" and "sie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sair" or "sie"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,924 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sair" and "sie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sie". 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 #24,924 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.