Which to use
“si” is a pronoun and “sois” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #482
- “si” frequency rank
- #20,136
- “sois” frequency rank
- 20618
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | si | sois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | refere-se à terceira pessoa, indica reflexividade e é usado após preposição (a, de, em, contra, sobre, por, etc., exceto com) | segunda pessoa do plural do presente do indicativo do verbo ser |
Where the eye mixes si and sois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses si with sois
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: si is /ˈsi/ while sois is /ˈsojs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
si is recorded at frequency rank #482, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈsi/. sois is at rank #20,136, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsojs/.
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 20618, this pair ranks #49,845 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of si vs sois
Shared letters: is. Private to "si": -. Private to "sois": o.
"si" · 2 letters · shape CV · "sois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sois ← osis · sios · soiss · sosi · ssois
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "si" for "sois" ever safe?
Which is more common, "si" or "sois"?
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 "si" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,845 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "si" and "sois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soap vs sois". 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 #49,845 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.