sievssuWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sie is a pronoun, su is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#40,788
“sie” frequency rank
#6,713
“su” frequency rank
47501
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Letter map: sie vs su

Shared letters muted; letters that set sie and su apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
sie
2 ch
su

Grammar separator: sie vs su

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sie is apronoun and suanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47501, 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 ?). su is at rank #6,713, tagged as anadj.

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 47501, this pair ranks #17,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sie vs su

Shared letters: s. Private to "sie": ei. Private to "su": u.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sie" and "su" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sie" is a pronoun and "su" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sie" vs "su" - which ranks higher?
"su" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,713 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.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sie" and "su".

  • Full dictionary entry for "sie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "su" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sie" and "su" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sie". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,737 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