ichvsimiTell them apart

Quick tell: ich is a pronoun, imi is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#32,637
“ich” frequency rank
#47,938
“imi” frequency rank
80575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ich imi
Definition eu, pronome pessoal do caso nominativo da primeira pessoa do singular: terceira pessoa do singular do passado do indicativo do verbo imeä:

Where the eye mixes ich and imi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ich (VCC) and imi (VCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
ich
3 ch
imi

Visual trap between ich and imi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ich is /ˈɪç/ while imi is /ˈi.mi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80575, 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/. imi is at rank #47,938, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈi.mi/.

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 80575, this pair ranks #1,298 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ich vs imi

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

"ich" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "imi" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ich" and "imi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ich" is a pronoun and "imi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ich" or "imi"?
"ich" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,637 in our Portuguese list, against #47,938 for "imi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,298 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ich" and "imi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imi vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,298 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