idovsídoloWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,480
“ido” frequency rank
#7,585
“ídolo” frequency rank
11065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ido ídolo
Definition língua artificial, uma versão simplificada do esperanto; não é adotada oficialmente por nenhum país e é seguida por grupos pequenos de pessoas, especialmente na Europa figura, estátua que representa uma divindade que se adora

Where the eye mixes ido and ídolo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ido runs 3 letters (VCV) against ídolo's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ido
5 ch
ídolo

Look-alike desk: ido vs ídolo

A purely visual mix-up. ido (/ˈi.du/) and ídolo (/ˈi.du.lu/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ido is recorded at frequency rank #3,480, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.du/. ídolo is at rank #7,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.du.lu/.

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 11065, this pair ranks #61,871 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ido vs ídolo

Shared letters: do. Private to "ido": i. Private to "ídolo": lí.

"ido" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ídolo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ido" for "ídolo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈi.du/ versus /ˈi.du.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ido" vs "ídolo" - which ranks higher?
"ido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,480 in our Portuguese list, against #7,585 for "ídolo". 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 "ido" and "ídolo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ídolo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,871 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ido" and "ídolo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ídolo vs ioiô". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #61,871 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