sievssuaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#40,788
“sie” frequency rank
#32
“sua” frequency rank
40820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sie sua
Definition ela, pronome pessoal feminino do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do singular: que tem você como objeto

Letter map: sie vs sua

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

3 ch
sie
3 ch
sua

Grammar separator: sie vs sua

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sie is apronoun and suaanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40820, 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 ?). sua is at rank #32, 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 40820, this pair ranks #25,216 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sie vs sua

Shared letters: s. Private to "sie": ei. Private to "sua": au.

"sie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "sua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sie" and "sua" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sie" is a pronoun and "sua" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sie" or "sua"?
"sua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,216 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sie" and "sua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sie". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,216 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