ici vs io, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ici” and “io” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,880
“ici” frequency rank: #18,900
“io” frequency rank: 64780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ici	io
Definition	aqui	sempre

Where the eye mixes ici and io

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

3 ch

ici

2 ch

Why the eye confuses ici with io

A purely visual mix-up. ici (\i.si\) and io (/ˈi.o/, /ˈi.ɔ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64780, 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\. io is at rank #18,900, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈi.o/, /ˈi.ɔ/.

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 64780, this pair ranks #5,636 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ici vs io

Shared letters: i. Private to "ici": c. Private to "io": o.

"ici" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "io" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ici" for "io" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\i.si\ versus /ˈi.o/, /ˈi.ɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

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

"io" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,900 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

Eye-level mix-up between "ici" and "io" 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 "io" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #5,636 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ici" and "io" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ici vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #5,636 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.