imaginaçãovsimaginárioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: imaginação is a noun, imaginário is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,734
“imaginação” frequency rank
#8,349
“imaginário” frequency rank
13083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imaginação imaginário
Definition faculdade ou capacidade mental que permite a representação de objetos segundo aquelas qualidades dos mesmos que são dadas à mente através dos sentidos que só existe na imaginação

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set imaginação and imaginário apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
imaginação
10 ch
imaginário

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: imaginação is anoun and imaginárioanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imaginação is recorded at frequency rank #4,734, classified as anoun, pronounced /i.mɐ.ʒi.nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. imaginário is at rank #8,349, tagged as anadj.

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 13083, this pair ranks #59,361 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of imaginação vs imaginário

Shared letters: agimno. Private to "imaginação": ãç. Private to "imaginário": .

"imaginação" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVV  ·  "imaginário" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

imaginação#4,734
imaginário#8,349

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "imaginação" and "imaginário" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imaginação" is a noun and "imaginário" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "imaginação" or "imaginário"?
"imaginação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,734 in our Portuguese list, against #8,349 for "imaginário". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering imaginação vs imaginário

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “imaginação”; for an adjective, it's “imaginário”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “imaginação” 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