ic vs ici, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ic” is a pronoun and “ici” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,339
“ic” frequency rank: #45,880
“ici” frequency rank: 71219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ic	ici
Definition	eu, pronome pessoal do caso reto da primeira pessoa do singular	aqui

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ic and ici apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch

3 ch

ici

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ic is /iʧ/ while ici is \i.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ic” sits inside “ici”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ic is recorded at frequency rank #25,339, classified as apron, pronounced /iʧ/. ici is at rank #45,880, tagged as anadv, pronounced \i.si\.

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 71219, this pair ranks #3,408 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ic vs ici

Shared letters: ci. Private to "ic": -. Private to "ici": -.

"ic" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ici" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequency comparison

ic#25,339

ici#45,880

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ic" and "ici" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ic" is a pronoun and "ici" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ic" or "ici"?

"ic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,339 in our Portuguese list, against #45,880 for "ici". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ic vs ici

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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