Which to use
“silício” and “silicon” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,640
- “silício” frequency rank
- #31,563
- “silicon” frequency rank
- 49203
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | silício | silicon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | elemento químico de símbolo Si, possui o número atômico 14 e massa atômica relativa 28,086; é o segundo elemento mais abundante da terra, é encontrado na argila, no granito no quartzo e na areia; é o principal elemento do vidro, cimento, cerâmica e da maioria dos componentes semicondutores eletrônicos | silício |
Where the eye mixes silício and silicon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses silício with silicon
A purely visual mix-up. silício (/siˈłisju/) and silicon (/ˈsɪlɪkən/, ouvir^(fonte ?)) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
silício is recorded at frequency rank #17,640, classified as anoun, pronounced /siˈłisju/. silicon is at rank #31,563, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪlɪkən/, ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 49203, this pair ranks #15,856 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of silício vs silicon
Shared letters: cilos. Private to "silício": í. Private to "silicon": n.
"silício" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "silicon" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- silicon ← islicon · siilcon · silcion · siliccon · silicno · siliconn · siliocn · sillicon
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "silício" for "silicon" ever safe?
Frequency check: "silício" vs "silicon" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "silício" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "silicon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,856 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "silício" and "silicon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sílica vs silicon". 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 #15,856 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.