iniciar
The verdict
“iniciar” is a regularly-used Portuguese word, ranked #3,412 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a verb.
- #3,412
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - ato de dar ou de ter início
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | iniciar |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,412 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “iniciar” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for iniciar is 7 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #3,412 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for iniciar, with forms such as "iinciar", "inciiar", and "inicair". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "início", "inibir", "inchar", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is iniciar, spelled I-N-I-C-I-A-R.
Definition
- 1ato de dar ou de ter início
- 2encetar, começar, principiar
- 3instruir em conhecimento artístico, científico, técnico, etc
- 4ligar o computador para pôr em uso ou em funcionamento
- 5executar ou abrir um aplicativo ou outros tipos de programa de computador
- 6dar os conhecimentos iniciais
- 7admitir aos conhecimentos e as práticas de uma religião, seita ou sociedade secreta
- 8ser aceito, acolhido
- 9introduzir-se, pôr-se
- 10dar início, começar; principiar-se, inaugurar-se
- 11adquirir os primeiros conhecimentos; instruir-se, informar-se
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iinciar,inciiar,inicair,inicciar,iniciarr,inicira,iniicar,inniciar,niiciar
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of iniciar - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "iniciar"?
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Using “iniciar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is I-N-I-C-I-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “início” - see the side-by-side comparison. iniciar vs início
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.