Which to use
“incerto” is an adjective and “incesto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,264
- “incerto” frequency rank
- #21,780
- “incesto” frequency rank
- 34044
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | incerto | incesto |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sobre o qual não se tem certeza | união ilícita entre parentes próximos, em grau proibido por lei |
Letter map: incerto vs incesto
Shared letters muted; letters that set incerto and incesto apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. incerto and incesto follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - incerto and incesto
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: incerto is anadjective and incestoanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - r in “incerto” becomes s in “incesto”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
incerto is recorded at frequency rank #12,264, classified as anadj, pronounced /ĩ.ˈsɛɾ.tu/. incesto is at rank #21,780, tagged as anoun.
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 34044, this pair ranks #33,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of incerto vs incesto
Shared letters: ceinot. Private to "incerto": r. Private to "incesto": s.
"incerto" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "incesto" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "incerto" for "incesto" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "incerto" or "incesto" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "incerto" vs "incesto" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "incerto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "incesto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "incerto" and "incesto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "incenso vs incesto". 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 #33,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.