ilícitovsinícioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ilícito is a adjective, início is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ilícito” is an adjective and “início” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,028
“ilícito” frequency rank
#377
“início” frequency rank
20405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ilícito início
Definition ilegal, proibido pela lei começo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ilícito and início apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
ilícito
6 ch
início

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ilícito is anadjective and inícioanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20405, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ilícito is recorded at frequency rank #20,028, classified as anadj, pronounced /i.ˈli.si.tu/. início is at rank #377, tagged as anoun.

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 20405, this pair ranks #50,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ilícito vs início

Shared letters: cioí. Private to "ilícito": lt. Private to "início": n.

"ilícito" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "início" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequency comparison

ilícito#20,028
início#377

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ilícito" and "início" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ilícito" is an adjective and "início" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ilícito" or "início"?
"início" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #377 in our Portuguese list, against #20,028 for "ilícito". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ilícito vs início

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “ilícito”; for a noun, it's “início”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ilícito” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list