infânciavsinfantilWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: infância is a noun, infantil is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“infância” is a noun and “infantil” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,932
“infância” frequency rank
#2,148
“infantil” frequency rank
4080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infância infantil
Definition período do desenvolvimento do ser humano, que vai do nascimento ao início da adolescência; meninice, puerícia relativo à infância

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set infância and infantil apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
infância
8 ch
infantil

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: infância is /ĩ.ˈfɐ̃.sjɐ/ while infantil is /ĩ.fɐ̃.ˈtiɫ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infância is recorded at frequency rank #1,932, classified as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.ˈfɐ̃.sjɐ/. infantil is at rank #2,148, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ĩ.fɐ̃.ˈtiɫ/.

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 4080, this pair ranks #70,939 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infância vs infantil

Shared letters: afin. Private to "infância": . Private to "infantil": lt.

"infância" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "infantil" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infantilifnantil · inafntil · infanitl · infanntil · infantill · infantli · infanttil · infatnil

Frequency comparison

infância#1,932
infantil#2,148

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infância" and "infantil" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "infância" is a noun and "infantil" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "infância" or "infantil"?
"infância" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,932 in our Portuguese list, against #2,148 for "infantil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering infância vs infantil

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “infância”; for an adjective, it's “infantil”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “infância” 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