iovsIrãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: io is a adverb, Irão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“io” is an adverb and “Irão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,900
“io” frequency rank
#1,785
“Irão” frequency rank
20685
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature io Irão
Definition sempre país do Oriente Médio, com nome oficial de República Islâmica do Irão, tem fronteiras com a Armênia, Azerbaijão, Turquemenistão, Afeganistão, Paquistão, Iraque e Turquia, é banhado ao norte pelo mar Cáspio, ao sul pelo golfo de Omã e ao sudoeste pelo golfo Pérsico, sua capital é Teerão

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set io and Irão apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch
io
4 ch
Irão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: io is anadverb and Irãoanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

io is recorded at frequency rank #18,900, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈi.o/, /ˈi.ɔ/. Irão is at rank #1,785, tagged as anoun.

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 20685, this pair ranks #49,758 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of io vs Irão

Shared letters: io. Private to "io": -. Private to "Irão": .

"io" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "Irão" · 4 letters · shape VCVV

Frequency comparison

io#18,900
Irão#1,785

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "io" and "Irão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "io" is an adverb and "Irão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "io" or "Irão"?
"Irão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,785 in our Portuguese list, against #18,900 for "io". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering io vs Irão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list