Which to use
“it” is a pronoun and “item” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,934
- “it” frequency rank
- #7,934
- “item” frequency rank
- 9868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | it | item |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | caso nominativo da terceira pessoa neutra do singular, ele, ela, ile | uma unidade de uma lista ou conjunto |
Where the eye mixes it and item
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: it vs item
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: it is /ɪt/ while item is /'i.tẽj̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “it” sits inside “item”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
it is recorded at frequency rank #1,934, classified as apron, pronounced /ɪt/. item is at rank #7,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'i.tẽj̃/.
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 9868, this pair ranks #63,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of it vs item
Shared letters: it. Private to "it": -. Private to "item": em.
"it" · 2 letters · shape VC · "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- item ← ietm · itemm · itme · ittem · tiem
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "it" and "item" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "it" vs "item" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "it" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "it" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs it". 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 #63,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.