ir vs it, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ir” is a verb and “it” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#162
“ir” frequency rank: #1,934
“it” frequency rank: 2096
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ir	it
Definition	mover-se de um lugar para outro	caso nominativo da terceira pessoa neutra do singular, ele, ela, ile

Letter map: ir vs it

Shared letters muted; letters that set ir and it apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

Grammar separator: ir vs it

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ir is averb and itapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - r in “ir” becomes t in “it”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ir is recorded at frequency rank #162, classified as averb. it is at rank #1,934, tagged as apron, pronounced /ɪt/.

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 2096, this pair ranks #73,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ir vs it

Shared letters: i. Private to "ir": r. Private to "it": t.

"ir" · 2 letters · shape VC · "it" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ir" for "it" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "ir" vs "it" - which ranks higher?

"ir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #162 in our Portuguese list, against #1,934 for "it". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "ir" vs "it" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "ir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "it" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #73,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ir" and "it" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs it". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #73,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.