infecçãovsintençãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,749
“infecção” frequency rank
#1,891
“intenção” frequency rank
7640
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infecção intenção
Definition colonização de um organismo hospedeiro por uma espécie estranha o ato de escolher mentalmente um plano de ação a seguir

Letter map: infecção vs intenção

Shared letters muted; letters that set infecção and intenção apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. infecção and intenção follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
infecção
8 ch
intenção

Corpus notes: infecção and intenção

infecção and intenção 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 7640, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infecção is recorded at frequency rank #5,749, classified as anoun. intenção is at rank #1,891, 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 7640, this pair ranks #66,459 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infecção vs intenção

Shared letters: einoãç. Private to "infecção": cf. Private to "intenção": t.

"infecção" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "intenção" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infecção" and "intenção" be used interchangeably?
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: "infecção" vs "intenção" - which ranks higher?
"intenção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,891 in our Portuguese list, against #5,749 for "infecção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "infecção" and "intenção".

  • Full dictionary entry for "infecção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intenção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,459 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infecção" and "intenção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infeção vs infecção". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,459 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