exterminarvsextermínioTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#22,030
“exterminar” frequency rank
#16,057
“extermínio” frequency rank
38087
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exterminar extermínio
Definition extinguir ato de exterminar

Letter map: exterminar vs extermínio

Shared letters muted; letters that set exterminar and extermínio apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

10 ch
exterminar
10 ch
extermínio

Part-of-speech tell for exterminar / extermínio

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: exterminar is averb and extermínioanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exterminar is recorded at frequency rank #22,030, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐjʃ.tɨɾ.mi.ˈnaɾ/. extermínio is at rank #16,057, tagged as anoun.

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 38087, this pair ranks #28,427 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exterminar vs extermínio

Shared letters: eimnrtx. Private to "exterminar": a. Private to "extermínio": .

"exterminar" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC  ·  "extermínio" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exterminaretxerminar · exetrminar · extemrinar · exterimnar · extermianr · exterminarr · exterminnar · exterminra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exterminar" and "extermínio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exterminar" is a verb and "extermínio" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "exterminar" vs "extermínio" - which ranks higher?
"extermínio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,057 in our Portuguese list, against #22,030 for "exterminar". 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 "exterminar" and "extermínio".

  • Full dictionary entry for "exterminar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extermínio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,427 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #28,427 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