Which to use
“ils” is a pronoun and “imi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,900
- “ils” frequency rank
- #47,938
- “imi” frequency rank
- 92838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ils | imi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eles | terceira pessoa do singular do passado do indicativo do verbo imeä: |
Where the eye mixes ils and imi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between ils and imi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ils is \il\ while imi is /ˈi.mi/. 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 (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ils is recorded at frequency rank #44,900, classified as apron, pronounced \il\. imi is at rank #47,938, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈi.mi/.
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 92838, this pair ranks #154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ils vs imi
Shared letters: i. Private to "ils": ls. Private to "imi": m.
"ils" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "imi" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ils" for "imi" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ils" vs "imi" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ils" and "imi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ils" and "imi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imi vs ino". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.