imaginarvsimaginárioConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#2,192
“imaginar” frequency rank
#8,349
“imaginário” frequency rank
10541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imaginar imaginário
Definition criar na imaginação, criar imagem na mente que só existe na imaginação

Letter map: imaginar vs imaginário

Shared letters muted; letters that set imaginar and imaginário apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. imaginar runs 8 letters (VCVCVCVC) against imaginário's 10 (VCVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
imaginar
10 ch
imaginário

Grammar separator: imaginar vs imaginário

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: imaginar is averb and imaginárioanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imaginar is recorded at frequency rank #2,192, classified as averb, pronounced /i.mɐ.ʒi.ˈnaɾ/. 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 10541, this pair ranks #62,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of imaginar vs imaginário

Shared letters: agimnr. Private to "imaginar": -. Private to "imaginário": oá.

"imaginar" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC  ·  "imaginário" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imaginar ← iamginar · imagginar · imagianr · imaginarr · imaginnar · imaginra · imagniar · imaignar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "imaginar" and "imaginário" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "imaginar" is a verb and "imaginário" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "imaginar" vs "imaginário" - which ranks higher?
"imaginar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,192 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.

Useful next steps

Pair "imaginar" vs "imaginário" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imaginar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imaginário" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imaginar" and "imaginário" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imaginação vs imaginário". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #62,524 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