animavsânimoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: anima is a noun, ânimo is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“anima” is a noun and “ânimo” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,516
“anima” frequency rank
#11,571
“ânimo” frequency rank
26087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anima ânimo
Definition alma coragem, força

Letter map: anima vs ânimo

Shared letters muted; letters that set anima and ânimo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
anima
5 ch
ânimo

Role in the sentence - anima and ânimo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: anima is anoun and ânimoanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anima is recorded at frequency rank #14,516, classified as anoun. ânimo is at rank #11,571, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈɐ.ni.mu/.

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 26087, this pair ranks #43,130 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anima vs ânimo

Shared letters: imn. Private to "anima": a. Private to "ânimo": .

"anima" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "ânimo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • animaainma · aniam · animma · anmia · annima · naima

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "anima" for "ânimo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "anima" is a noun and "ânimo" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "anima" or "ânimo"?
"ânimo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,571 in our Portuguese list, against #14,516 for "anima". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "anima" and "ânimo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "anima" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ânimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,130 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anima" and "ânimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anima vs anis". 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 #43,130 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