gemidovsgénioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,925
“gemido” frequency rank
#26,765
“génio” frequency rank
63690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gemido génio
Definition ato de gemer espírito bom ou mau;

Where the eye mixes gemido and génio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gemido runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against génio's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gemido
5 ch
génio

Look-alike desk: gemido vs génio

A purely visual mix-up. gemido (/ʒeˈmidu/) and génio (/ˈʒɛ.nju/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gemido is recorded at frequency rank #36,925, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʒeˈmidu/. génio is at rank #26,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʒɛ.nju/.

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 63690, this pair ranks #6,080 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gemido vs génio

Shared letters: gio. Private to "gemido": dem. Private to "génio": né.

"gemido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "génio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gemido ← egmido · geimdo · gemdio · gemiddo · gemiod · gemmido · ggemido · gmeido

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gemido" and "génio" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ʒeˈmidu/ versus /ˈʒɛ.nju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "gemido" or "génio" show up more?
"génio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,765 in our Portuguese list, against #36,925 for "gemido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gemido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "génio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,080 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gemido" and "génio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemido vs Gemini". 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 #6,080 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