saiuvssayWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: saiu is a verb, say is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“saiu” is a verb and “say” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,035
“saiu” frequency rank
#8,261
“say” frequency rank
9296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature saiu say
Definition Terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo sair. esmola

Letter map: saiu vs say

Shared letters muted; letters that set saiu and say apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. saiu runs 4 letters (CVVV) against say's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
saiu
3 ch
say

Role in the sentence - saiu and say

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: saiu is averb and sayanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

saiu is recorded at frequency rank #1,035, classified as averb. say is at rank #8,261, tagged as anoun.

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 9296, this pair ranks #64,180 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of saiu vs say

Shared letters: as. Private to "saiu": iu. Private to "say": y.

"saiu" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "say" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • saiu ← asiu · saui · siau · ssaiu

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "saiu" and "say" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "saiu" is a verb and "say" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "saiu" or "say" show up more?
"saiu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,035 in our Portuguese list, against #8,261 for "say". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "saiu" and "say". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "saiu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "say" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,180 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "saiu" and "say" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "say 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 #64,180 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