exigirvsexímioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: exigir is a verb, exímio is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,293
“exigir” frequency rank
#42,929
“exímio” frequency rank
49222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exigir exímio
Definition requerer, reclamar em virtude de um direito excelente

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exigir and exímio apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
exigir
6 ch
exímio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exigir is /i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/ while exímio is /i.ˈzi.mju/. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exigir is recorded at frequency rank #6,293, classified as averb, pronounced /i.zi.ˈʒiɾ/. exímio is at rank #42,929, tagged as anadj, pronounced /i.ˈzi.mju/.

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 49222, this pair ranks #15,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of exigir vs exímio

Shared letters: eix. Private to "exigir": gr. Private to "exímio": moí.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exigireixgir · exgiir · exiggir · exigirr · exigri · exiigr · exxigir · xeigir

Frequency comparison

exigir#6,293
exímio#42,929

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exigir" and "exímio" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exigir" is a verb and "exímio" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "exigir" or "exímio"?
"exigir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,293 in our Portuguese list, against #42,929 for "exímio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering exigir vs exímio

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “exigir”; for an adjective, it's “exímio”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “exigir” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list