into vs isto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“into” is a preposition and “isto” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,024
“into” frequency rank: #349
“isto” frequency rank: 10373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	into	isto
Definition	em	indica algo que está próximo a quem fala ou assunto de que se fala

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set into and isto apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

into

4 ch

isto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: into is /ˈɪn.tuː/, X-SAMPA: /"Intu:/ while isto is /ˈis.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “into” becomes s in “isto”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

into is recorded at frequency rank #10,024, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈɪn.tuː/, X-SAMPA: /"Intu:/. isto is at rank #349, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈis.tu/.

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 10373, this pair ranks #62,754 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of into vs isto

Shared letters: iot. Private to "into": n. Private to "isto": s.

"into" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "isto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

into ← innto · inot · intto · itno · nito
isto ← isot · issto · istto · itso

Frequency comparison

into#10,024

isto#349

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "into" and "isto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "into" is a preposition and "isto" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "into" or "isto"?

"isto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #349 in our Portuguese list, against #10,024 for "into". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering into vs isto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “into”; for a pronoun, it's “isto”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “into” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable