iam vs in, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“iam” is a verb and “in” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,823
“iam” frequency rank: #269
“in” frequency rank: 5092
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	iam	in
Definition	terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo ir	em

Letter map: iam vs in

Shared letters muted; letters that set iam and in apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

iam

2 ch

Grammar separator: iam vs in

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: iam is averb and inapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

iam is recorded at frequency rank #4,823, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈi.am/, /ˈi.ɑm/. in is at rank #269, tagged as aprep.

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 5092, this pair ranks #69,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of iam vs in

Shared letters: i. Private to "iam": am. Private to "in": n.

"iam" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "in" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "iam" for "in" ever safe?

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

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "iam" or "in" show up more?

"in" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #269 in our Portuguese list, against #4,823 for "iam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "iam" and "in". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "iam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "in" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #69,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"iam" and "in" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "iam vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #69,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.