implorarvsimportarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,869
“implorar” frequency rank
#5,210
“importar” frequency rank
20079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature implorar importar
Definition pedir encarecidamente; suplicar, rogar determinar que venha ou trazer de outro país

Where the eye mixes implorar and importar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
implorar
8 ch
importar

Visual trap between implorar and importar

A purely visual mix-up. implorar (/ĩ.plu.ˈɾaɾ/) and importar (/ĩ.puɾ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

implorar is recorded at frequency rank #14,869, classified as averb, pronounced /ĩ.plu.ˈɾaɾ/. importar is at rank #5,210, tagged as averb, pronounced /ĩ.puɾ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 20079, this pair ranks #50,523 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of implorar vs importar

Shared letters: aimopr. Private to "implorar": l. Private to "importar": t.

"implorar" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "importar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • implorarimlporar · immplorar · impllorar · imploarr · implorarr · implorra · implorrar · implroar
  • importarimmportar · imoprtar · imporatr · imporrtar · importarr · importra · importtar · impotrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "implorar" and "importar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ĩ.plu.ˈɾaɾ/ versus /ĩ.puɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "implorar" or "importar" show up more?
"importar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,210 in our Portuguese list, against #14,869 for "implorar". 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 "implorar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "importar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,523 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "implorar" and "importar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "import vs importar". 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 #50,523 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