exibirvsexigirConfusable pair

Which to use

“exibir” and “exigir” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,766
“exibir” frequency rank
#6,293
“exigir” frequency rank
14059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exibir exigir
Definition mostrar requerer, reclamar em virtude de um direito

Where the eye mixes exibir and exigir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. exibir and exigir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
exibir
6 ch
exigir

Visual trap between exibir and exigir

A purely visual mix-up. exibir (/i.zi.ˈbiɾ/) and exigir (/i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/) 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 a single letter - b in “exibir” becomes g in “exigir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exibir is recorded at frequency rank #7,766, classified as averb, pronounced /i.zi.ˈbiɾ/. 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 14059, this pair ranks #58,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exibir vs exigir

Shared letters: eirx. Private to "exibir": b. Private to "exigir": g.

"exibir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "exigir" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exibir ← eixbir · exbiir · exibbir · exibirr · exibri · exiibr · exxibir · xeibir
  • exigir ← eixgir · exgiir · exiggir · exigirr · exigri · exiigr · exxigir · xeigir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exibir" and "exigir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/i.zi.ˈbiɾ/ versus /i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "exibir" or "exigir"?
"exigir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,293 in our Portuguese list, against #7,766 for "exibir". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "exibir" 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 #58,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exibir" and "exigir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exibir 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 #58,131 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