Which to use
“sie” is a pronoun and “sup” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,788
- “sie” frequency rank
- #25,150
- “sup” frequency rank
- 65938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sie | sup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ela, pronome pessoal feminino do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do singular: | abutre |
Where the eye mixes sie and sup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between sie and sup
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sie is /zi:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) ouvir^(fonte ?) while sup is /sʊp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65938, 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 ?). sup is at rank #25,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sʊp/.
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 65938, this pair ranks #5,175 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sie vs sup
Shared letters: s. Private to "sie": ei. Private to "sup": pu.
"sie" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "sup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sie" and "sup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "sie" or "sup" show up more?
What to do next
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 "sup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,175 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sie" and "sup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sau vs sie". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #5,175 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.