Which to use
“ski” and “skill” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,135
- “ski” frequency rank
- #41,726
- “skill” frequency rank
- 61861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ski | skill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | esqui | habilidade, capacidade para realizar uma tarefa |
Where the eye mixes ski and skill
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ski and skill
A purely visual mix-up. ski (/ski/, SAMPA: /ski/) and skill (/skɪl/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “ski” sits inside “skill”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ski is recorded at frequency rank #20,135, classified as anoun, pronounced /ski/, SAMPA: /ski/. skill is at rank #41,726, tagged as anoun, pronounced /skɪl/.
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 61861, this pair ranks #6,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ski vs skill
Shared letters: iks. Private to "ski": -. Private to "skill": l.
"ski" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "skill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- skill ← ksill · sikll · skil · skkill · sklil · sskill
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ski" and "skill" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ski" or "skill" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ski" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "skill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ski" and "skill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skill vs skol". 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 #6,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.