Which to use
“sci” and “ship” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,904
- “sci” frequency rank
- #19,271
- “ship” frequency rank
- 49175
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sci | ship |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | esqui, placa geralmente de madeira para deslizar na água ou na neve | navio |
Where the eye mixes sci and ship
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sci and ship
A purely visual mix-up. sci (/ˈʃi/) and ship (shĭp) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sci is recorded at frequency rank #29,904, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃi/. ship is at rank #19,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced shĭp.
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 49175, this pair ranks #15,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sci vs ship
Shared letters: is. Private to "sci": c. Private to "ship": hp.
"sci" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "ship" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ship ← hsip · shhip · shipp · shpi · sihp · sship
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sci" for "ship" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sci" or "ship" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sci" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ship" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sci" and "ship" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sci". 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 #15,900 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.