imensovsisentoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“imenso” and “isento” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,624
“imenso” frequency rank
#21,219
“isento” frequency rank
24843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature imenso isento
Definition vasto, enorme, muito grande desobrigado; dispensado

Where the eye mixes imenso and isento

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. imenso and isento follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
imenso
6 ch
isento

Look-alike desk: imenso vs isento

A purely visual mix-up. imenso (/i.ˈmẽ.su/) and isento (/i.ˈzẽ.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

imenso is recorded at frequency rank #3,624, classified as anadj, pronounced /i.ˈmẽ.su/. isento is at rank #21,219, tagged as anadj, pronounced /i.ˈzẽ.tu/.

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 24843, this pair ranks #44,638 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of imenso vs isento

Shared letters: einos. Private to "imenso": m. Private to "isento": t.

"imenso" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "isento" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • imenso ← iemnso · imennso · imenos · imensso · imesno · immenso · imneso · mienso
  • isento ← iesnto · isennto · isenot · isentto · isetno · issento · siento

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "imenso" for "isento" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/i.ˈmẽ.su/ versus /i.ˈzẽ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "imenso" vs "isento" - which ranks higher?
"imenso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,624 in our Portuguese list, against #21,219 for "isento". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "imenso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isento" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,638 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "imenso" and "isento" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isentar vs isento". 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 #44,638 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