I vs ir, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“I” is a pronoun and “ir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#286
“I” frequency rank: #162
“ir” frequency rank: 448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	I	ir
Definition	caso nominativo da primeira pessoa do singular, eu	mover-se de um lugar para outro

Letter map: I vs ir

Shared letters muted; letters that set I and ir apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch

2 ch

Role in the sentence - I and ir

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: I is apronoun and iraverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “I” sits inside “ir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

I is recorded at frequency rank #286, classified as apron, pronounced /aI/. ir is at rank #162, tagged as averb.

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 448, this pair ranks #75,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of I vs ir

Shared letters: i. Private to "I": -. Private to "ir": r.

"I" · 1 letters · shape V · "ir" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "I" for "ir" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "I" is a pronoun and "ir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "I" vs "ir" - which ranks higher?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #162 in our Portuguese list, against #286 for "I". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "I" vs "ir" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "I" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #75,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"I" and "ir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "I vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.