sie vs só, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#40,788
“sie” frequency rank: #50
“só” frequency rank: 40838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	sie	só
Definition	ela, pronome pessoal feminino do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do singular:	solitário, sem companhia, sem círculo social

Where the eye mixes sie and só

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

sie

2 ch

só

Look-alike desk: sie vs só

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sie is /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?) while só is /ˈsɔ/. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sie is recorded at frequency rank #40,788, classified as apron, pronounced /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?). só is at rank #50, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɔ/.

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 40838, this pair ranks #25,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sie vs só

Shared letters: s. Private to "sie": ei. Private to "só": ó.

"sie" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "só" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Which is more common, "sie" or "só"?

"só" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #50 in our Portuguese list, against #40,788 for "sie". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "sie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "só" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #25,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"sie" and "só" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sie". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,201 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.