im vs ino, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“im” is a verb and “ino” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,077
“im” frequency rank: #49,532
“ino” frequency rank: 61609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	im	ino
Definition	sou;	ser do sexo feminino; fêmea

Letter map: im vs ino

Shared letters muted; letters that set im and ino apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

3 ch

ino

Role in the sentence - im and ino

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: im is averb and inoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

im is recorded at frequency rank #12,077, classified as averb. ino is at rank #49,532, 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 61609, this pair ranks #7,057 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of im vs ino

Shared letters: i. Private to "im": m. Private to "ino": no.

"im" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ino" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "im" and "ino" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "im" is a verb and "ino" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "im" or "ino" show up more?

"im" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,077 in our Portuguese list, against #49,532 for "ino". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "im" vs "ino" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "im" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ino" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #7,057 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"im" and "ino" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs ioiô". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,057 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.