ioiôvsistoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ioiô is a adjective, isto is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#48,990
“ioiô” frequency rank
#349
“isto” frequency rank
49339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ioiô isto
Definition que se começa, se para e se volta a fazer 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 ioiô and isto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
ioiô
4 ch
isto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ioiô is anadjective and istoapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ioiô is recorded at frequency rank #48,990, classified as anadj. 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 49339, this pair ranks #15,693 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ioiô vs isto

Shared letters: io. Private to "ioiô": ô. Private to "isto": st.

"ioiô" · 4 letters · shape VVVV  ·  "isto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • istoisot · issto · istto · itso

Frequency comparison

ioiô#48,990
isto#349

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ioiô" and "isto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ioiô" is an adjective and "isto" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ioiô" or "isto"?
"isto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #349 in our Portuguese list, against #48,990 for "ioiô". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ioiô vs isto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “ioiô”; for a pronoun, it's “isto”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ioiô” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list