ich vs im, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#32,637
“ich” frequency rank: #12,077
“im” frequency rank: 44714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ich	im
Definition	eu, pronome pessoal do caso nominativo da primeira pessoa do singular:	sou;

Letter map: ich vs im

Shared letters muted; letters that set ich and im apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

ich

2 ch

Role in the sentence - ich and im

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ich is apronoun and imaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ich is recorded at frequency rank #32,637, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈɪç/. im is at rank #12,077, 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 44714, this pair ranks #20,712 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ich vs im

Shared letters: i. Private to "ich": ch. Private to "im": m.

"ich" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "im" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ich" for "im" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "ich" vs "im" - which ranks higher?

"im" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,077 in our Portuguese list, against #32,637 for "ich". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ich" vs "im" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "ich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "im" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #20,712 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ich" and "im" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ich vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,712 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.