issovsistoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“isso” and “isto” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40
“isso” frequency rank
#349
“isto” frequency rank
389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature isso isto
Definition essa coisa ou esse assunto; essas coisas; esses assuntos indica algo que está próximo a quem fala ou assunto de que se fala

Letter map: isso vs isto

Shared letters muted; letters that set isso and isto apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. isso and isto follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
isso
4 ch
isto

Corpus notes: isso and isto

isso and isto are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - s in “isso” becomes t in “isto”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

isso is recorded at frequency rank #40, classified as apron. 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 389, this pair ranks #75,247 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of isso vs isto

Shared letters: ios. Private to "isso": -. Private to "isto": t.

"isso" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "isto" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • isso ← iso · isos · siso
  • isto ← isot · issto · istto · itso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "isso" and "isto" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - s in “isso” becomes t in “isto”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "isso" vs "isto" - which ranks higher?
"isso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 in our Portuguese list, against #349 for "isto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "isso" and "isto". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "isso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,247 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "isso" and "isto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs isto". 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 #75,247 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