ici vs it, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#45,880
“ici” frequency rank: #1,934
“it” frequency rank: 47814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ici	it
Definition	aqui	caso nominativo da terceira pessoa neutra do singular, ele, ela, ile

Where the eye mixes ici and it

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

3 ch

ici

2 ch

Visual trap between ici and it

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ici is \i.si\ while it is /ɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47814, 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\. it is at rank #1,934, tagged as apron, pronounced /ɪt/.

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 47814, this pair ranks #17,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ici vs it

Shared letters: i. Private to "ici": c. Private to "it": t.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ici" and "it" be used interchangeably?

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

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

"it" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,934 in our Portuguese list, against #45,880 for "ici". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ici" and "it" 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 "it" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #17,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ici" and "it" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ici vs ino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.