vivsVisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vi is a pronoun, Vis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vi” is a pronoun and “Vis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#339
“vi” frequency rank
#21,333
“Vis” frequency rank
21672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vi Vis
Definition tu, você, pronome da segunda pessoa do singular um sobrenome

Where the eye mixes vi and Vis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch
vi
3 ch
Vis

Why the eye confuses vi with Vis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vi is /'vi/ while Vis is /vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “vi” sits inside “Vis”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vi is recorded at frequency rank #339, classified as apron, pronounced /'vi/. Vis is at rank #21,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɪs/ 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 21672, this pair ranks #48,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vi vs Vis

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vi": -. Private to "Vis": s.

"vi" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "Vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vi" and "Vis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vi" is a pronoun and "Vis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vi" or "Vis"?
"vi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #339 in our Portuguese list, against #21,333 for "Vis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vi" and "Vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vis vs visar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #48,524 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