infeçãovsinfusãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,622
“infeção” frequency rank
#32,645
“infusão” frequency rank
73267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infeção infusão
Definition invasão de micro-organismos patogénicos operação de deixar de molho em água quente uma ou mais substâncias por tempo variável para extrair-lhes os princípios solúveis

Letter map: infeção vs infusão

Shared letters muted; letters that set infeção and infusão apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. infeção and infusão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
infeção
7 ch
infusão

Corpus notes: infeção and infusão

infeção and infusão 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 73267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infeção is recorded at frequency rank #40,622, classified as anoun. infusão is at rank #32,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.fu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 73267, this pair ranks #2,814 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of infeção vs infusão

Shared letters: finoã. Private to "infeção": eç. Private to "infusão": su.

"infeção" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "infusão" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infeção" for "infusão" 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.
Frequency check: "infeção" vs "infusão" - which ranks higher?
"infusão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,645 in our Portuguese list, against #40,622 for "infeção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "infeção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infusão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,814 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infeção" and "infusão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infeção vs inflexão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,814 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