scivssoirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,904
“sci” frequency rank
#47,619
“soir” frequency rank
77523
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sci soir
Definition esqui, placa geralmente de madeira para deslizar na água ou na neve noite (período entre o anoitecer e a meia-noite)

Where the eye mixes sci and soir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. sci runs 3 letters (CCV) against soir's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
sci
4 ch
soir

Why the eye confuses sci with soir

A purely visual mix-up. sci (/ˈʃi/) and soir (\swaʁ\) 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 77523, 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/. soir is at rank #47,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced \swaʁ\.

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 77523, this pair ranks #1,861 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sci vs soir

Shared letters: is. Private to "sci": c. Private to "soir": or.

"sci" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "soir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • soir ← osir · sior · soirr · sori · ssoir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sci" and "soir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃi/ versus \swaʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sci" or "soir" show up more?
"sci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,904 in our Portuguese list, against #47,619 for "soir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sci" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "soir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,861 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sci" and "soir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soap vs soir". 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 #1,861 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