impedirvsimpérioWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: impedir is a verb, império is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,378
“impedir” frequency rank
#3,482
“império” frequency rank
5860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impedir império
Definition opor-se a estado governado por um imperador ou uma imperatriz

Where the eye mixes impedir and império

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. impedir (VCCVCVC) and império (VCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
impedir
7 ch
império

Visual trap between impedir and império

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: impedir is /ĩ.pɨ.ˈdiɾ/ while império is /ĩ.ˈpɛ.ɾju/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impedir is recorded at frequency rank #2,378, classified as averb, pronounced /ĩ.pɨ.ˈdiɾ/. império is at rank #3,482, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.ˈpɛ.ɾju/.

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 5860, this pair ranks #68,686 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of impedir vs império

Shared letters: impr. Private to "impedir": de. Private to "império": oé.

"impedir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "império" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • impedir ← imepdir · immpedir · impdeir · impeddir · impedirr · impedri · impeidr · imppedir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "impedir" and "império" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "impedir" is a verb and "império" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "impedir" or "império"?
"impedir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,378 in our Portuguese list, against #3,482 for "império". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "impedir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "império" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,686 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "impedir" and "império" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "império vs imperioso". 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 #68,686 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