sic vs sie, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“sic” is an adverb and “sie” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,836
“sic” frequency rank: #40,788
“sie” frequency rank: 48624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sic	sie
Definition	assim	ela, pronome pessoal feminino do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do singular:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sic and sie apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

sic

3 ch

sie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sic is /siːk/ while sie is /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “sic” becomes e in “sie”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sic is recorded at frequency rank #7,836, classified as anadv, pronounced /siːk/. sie is at rank #40,788, tagged as apron, pronounced /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 48624, this pair ranks #16,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sic vs sie

Shared letters: is. Private to "sic": c. Private to "sie": e.

"sic" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "sie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

sic#7,836

sie#40,788

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sic" and "sie" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sic" is an adverb and "sie" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "sic" or "sie"?

"sic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,836 in our Portuguese list, against #40,788 for "sie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sic vs sie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “sic”; for a pronoun, it's “sie”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sic” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable