intro vs isto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,070
“intro” frequency rank: #349
“isto” frequency rank: 26419
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	intro	isto
Definition	no interior, dentro	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 intro and isto apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

intro

4 ch

isto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intro is /in.troː/ while isto is /ˈis.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intro is recorded at frequency rank #26,070, classified as anadv, pronounced /in.troː/. 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 26419, this pair ranks #42,742 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of intro vs isto

Shared letters: iot. Private to "intro": nr. Private to "isto": s.

"intro" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "isto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

intro ← inntro · inrto · intor · intrro · inttro · itnro · nitro
isto ← isot · issto · istto · itso

Frequency comparison

intro#26,070

isto#349

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"isto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #349 in our Portuguese list, against #26,070 for "intro". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering intro vs isto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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