seinvsseivaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#43,647
“sein” frequency rank
#33,612
“seiva” frequency rank
77259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sein seiva
Definition ser, estar. líquido nutritivo que circula nas plantas

Where the eye mixes sein and seiva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sein runs 4 letters (CVVC) against seiva's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
sein
5 ch
seiva

Why the eye confuses sein with seiva

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sein is /zaɪ̯n/ while seiva is /ˈsɐj.vɐ/. 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 77259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sein is recorded at frequency rank #43,647, classified as averb, pronounced /zaɪ̯n/. seiva is at rank #33,612, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɐj.vɐ/.

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 77259, this pair ranks #1,929 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sein vs seiva

Shared letters: eis. Private to "sein": n. Private to "seiva": av.

"sein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "seiva" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sein ← esin · seinn · seni · sien · ssein
  • seiva ← esiva · seiav · seivva · sevia · sieva · sseiva

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sein" and "seiva" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sein" is a verb and "seiva" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sein" or "seiva" show up more?
"seiva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,612 in our Portuguese list, against #43,647 for "sein". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "seiva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sein" and "seiva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sein vs slip". 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 #1,929 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