invençãovsinventarTell them apart

Quick tell: invenção is a noun, inventar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“invenção” is a noun and “inventar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,787
“invenção” frequency rank
#7,931
“inventar” frequency rank
15718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature invenção inventar
Definition ato de inventar criar no pensamento; ser o primeiro a ter a ideia de; armar intrigas; contar falsamente

Letter map: invenção vs inventar

Shared letters muted; letters that set invenção and inventar apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. invenção (VCCVCCVV) and inventar (VCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
invenção
8 ch
inventar

Grammar separator: invenção vs inventar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: invenção is anoun and inventaraverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

invenção is recorded at frequency rank #7,787, classified as anoun, pronounced /ĩ.vẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. inventar is at rank #7,931, tagged as averb.

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 15718, this pair ranks #56,036 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of invenção vs inventar

Shared letters: einv. Private to "invenção": oãç. Private to "inventar": art.

"invenção" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "inventar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inventar ← inevntar · innventar · invenatr · invenntar · inventarr · inventra · inventtar · invetnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "invenção" and "inventar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "invenção" is a noun and "inventar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "invenção" or "inventar"?
"invenção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,787 in our Portuguese list, against #7,931 for "inventar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "invenção" and "inventar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "invenção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inventar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,036 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "invenção" and "inventar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inventar vs isentar". 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 #56,036 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