intençãovsinvençãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,891
“intenção” frequency rank
#7,787
“invenção” frequency rank
9678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intenção invenção
Definition o ato de escolher mentalmente um plano de ação a seguir ato de inventar

Letter map: intenção vs invenção

Shared letters muted; letters that set intenção and invenção apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. intenção and invenção follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
intenção
8 ch
invenção

Spelling & dictionary notes on intenção vs invenção

intenção and invenção 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 differ by a single letter - t in “intenção” becomes v in “invenção”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intenção is recorded at frequency rank #1,891, classified as anoun. invenção is at rank #7,787, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.vẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 9678, this pair ranks #63,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intenção vs invenção

Shared letters: einoãç. Private to "intenção": t. Private to "invenção": v.

"intenção" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "invenção" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intenção" and "invenção" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - t in “intenção” becomes v in “invenção”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "intenção" or "invenção" show up more?
"intenção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,891 in our Portuguese list, against #7,787 for "invenção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "intenção" vs "invenção" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intenção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "invenção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intenção" and "invenção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infeção vs invenção". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #63,677 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