inteirovsinternoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,244
“inteiro” frequency rank
#3,269
“interno” frequency rank
4513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inteiro interno
Definition completo interior; de dentro

Where the eye mixes inteiro and interno

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
inteiro
7 ch
interno

Visual trap between inteiro and interno

A purely visual mix-up. inteiro (/ĩ.ˈtɐj.ɾu/) and interno (/ĩ.ˈtɛɾ.nu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inteiro is recorded at frequency rank #1,244, classified as anadj, pronounced /ĩ.ˈtɐj.ɾu/. interno is at rank #3,269, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ĩ.ˈtɛɾ.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 4513, this pair ranks #70,356 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of inteiro vs interno

Shared letters: einort. Private to "inteiro": -. Private to "interno": -.

"inteiro" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "interno" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inteiroinetiro · innteiro · inteior · inteirro · interio · intiero · intteiro · itneiro
  • internoinetrno · innterno · intenro · internno · interon · interrno · intreno · intterno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "inteiro" for "interno" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ĩ.ˈtɐj.ɾu/ versus /ĩ.ˈtɛɾ.nu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "inteiro" vs "interno" - which ranks higher?
"inteiro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,244 in our Portuguese list, against #3,269 for "interno". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inteiro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,356 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inteiro" and "interno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "internal vs interno". 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 #70,356 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