infâmiavsinfânciaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,472
“infâmia” frequency rank
#1,932
“infância” frequency rank
50404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infâmia infância
Definition abalo ou dano à boa fama período do desenvolvimento do ser humano, que vai do nascimento ao início da adolescência; meninice, puerícia

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set infâmia and infância apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
infâmia
8 ch
infância

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. infâmia (/ĩ.ˈfɐ.mjɐ/) and infância (/ĩ.ˈfɐ̃.sjɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infâmia is recorded at frequency rank #48,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.ˈfɐ.mjɐ/. infância is at rank #1,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.ˈfɐ̃.sjɐ/.

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 50404, this pair ranks #14,564 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infâmia vs infância

Shared letters: afinâ. Private to "infâmia": m. Private to "infância": c.

"infâmia" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "infância" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Frequency comparison

infâmia#48,472
infância#1,932

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infâmia" and "infância" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ĩ.ˈfɐ.mjɐ/ versus /ĩ.ˈfɐ̃.sjɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "infâmia" or "infância"?
"infância" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,932 in our Portuguese list, against #48,472 for "infâmia". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering infâmia vs infância

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “infâmia” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list