efígievsexigirWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: efígie is a noun, exigir is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“efígie” is a noun and “exigir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,864
“efígie” frequency rank
#6,293
“exigir” frequency rank
43157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature efígie exigir
Definition representação de uma pessoa requerer, reclamar em virtude de um direito

Where the eye mixes efígie and exigir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. efígie (VCVCVV) and exigir (VCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
efígie
6 ch
exigir

Why the eye confuses efígie with exigir

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: efígie is /e.ˈfi.ʒji/, /e.ˈfi.ʒje/ while exigir is /i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

efígie is recorded at frequency rank #36,864, classified as anoun, pronounced /e.ˈfi.ʒji/, /e.ˈfi.ʒje/. exigir is at rank #6,293, tagged as averb, pronounced /i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/.

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 43157, this pair ranks #22,515 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of efígie vs exigir

Shared letters: egi. Private to "efígie": fí. Private to "exigir": rx.

"efígie" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "exigir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exigir ← eixgir · exgiir · exiggir · exigirr · exigri · exiigr · exxigir · xeigir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "efígie" and "exigir" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "efígie" is a noun and "exigir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "efígie" or "exigir"?
"exigir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,293 in our Portuguese list, against #36,864 for "efígie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "efígie" and "exigir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "efígie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,515 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "efígie" and "exigir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exigir vs exímio". 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 #22,515 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