sigilovssiglaTell them apart

Which to use

“sigilo” and “sigla” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,977
“sigilo” frequency rank
#6,124
“sigla” frequency rank
14101
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sigilo sigla
Definition convenção que indica segredo, sinete no sentido lato indica toda a classe de abreviaturas

Where the eye mixes sigilo and sigla

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sigilo runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against sigla's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
sigilo
5 ch
sigla

Look-alike desk: sigilo vs sigla

A purely visual mix-up. sigilo (/si.ˈʒi.lu/) and sigla (/ˈsi.ɡlɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sigilo is recorded at frequency rank #7,977, classified as anoun, pronounced /si.ˈʒi.lu/. sigla is at rank #6,124, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsi.ɡlɐ/.

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 14101, this pair ranks #58,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sigilo vs sigla

Shared letters: gils. Private to "sigilo": o. Private to "sigla": a.

"sigilo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "sigla" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sigilo ← isgilo · sgiilo · siggilo · sigillo · sigiol · siglio · siiglo · ssigilo
  • sigla ← isgla · sgila · sigal · siggla · siglla · silga · ssigla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sigilo" and "sigla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/si.ˈʒi.lu/ versus /ˈsi.ɡlɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sigilo" vs "sigla" - which ranks higher?
"sigla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,124 in our Portuguese list, against #7,977 for "sigilo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sigilo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sigla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sigilo" and "sigla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sigilo vs silo". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #58,076 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