icivsinaTell them apart

Quick tell: ici is a adverb, ina is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#45,880
“ici” frequency rank
#44,904
“ina” frequency rank
90784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ici ina
Definition aqui mãe

Where the eye mixes ici and ina

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ici
3 ch
ina

Why the eye confuses ici with ina

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ici is \i.si\ while ina is /iˈna/, [ʔɪˈnʌ]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90784, 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\. ina is at rank #44,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iˈna/, [ʔɪˈnʌ].

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 90784, this pair ranks #244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ici vs ina

Shared letters: i. Private to "ici": c. Private to "ina": an.

"ici" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ina" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ici" and "ina" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ici" is an adverb and "ina" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ici" vs "ina" - which ranks higher?
"ina" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,904 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ici" and "ina" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ici" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ina" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ici" and "ina" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ici vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #244 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