ici vs im, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#45,880
“ici” frequency rank: #12,077
“im” frequency rank: 57957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ici	im
Definition	aqui	sou;

Letter map: ici vs im

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

3 ch

ici

2 ch

Role in the sentence - ici and im

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ici is anadverb and imaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ici is recorded at frequency rank #45,880, classified as anadv, pronounced \i.si\. 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 57957, this pair ranks #9,020 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ici vs im

Shared letters: i. Private to "ici": c. Private to "im": m.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ici" and "im" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Frequency check: "ici" 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 #45,880 for "ici". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ici" and "im".

Full dictionary entry for "ici" 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 #9,020 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ici" and "im" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ici vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #9,020 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.