infeçãovsinfernoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,622
“infeção” frequency rank
#2,015
“inferno” frequency rank
42637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infeção inferno
Definition invasão de micro-organismos patogénicos qualquer região inferior ou subterrânea; ínfero

Letter map: infeção vs inferno

Shared letters muted; letters that set infeção and inferno apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
infeção
7 ch
inferno

Spelling & dictionary notes on infeção vs inferno

infeção and inferno are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infeção is recorded at frequency rank #40,622, classified as anoun. inferno is at rank #2,015, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.ˈfɛɾ.nu/.

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 42637, this pair ranks #23,118 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of infeção vs inferno

Shared letters: efino. Private to "infeção": ãç. Private to "inferno": r.

"infeção" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "inferno" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infernoifnerno · inefrno · infenro · infernno · inferon · inferrno · infferno · infreno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infeção" for "inferno" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "infeção" or "inferno"?
"inferno" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,015 in our Portuguese list, against #40,622 for "infeção". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "infeção" and "inferno". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "infeção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inferno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,118 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infeção" and "inferno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infeção vs inflexão". 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 #23,118 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