já vs ji, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“já” is an adverb and “ji” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41
“já” frequency rank: #16,101
“ji” frequency rank: 16142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	já	ji
Definition	imediatamente	terceira pessoa do singular do caso acusativo do ona

Letter map: já vs ji

Shared letters muted; letters that set já and ji apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

já

2 ch

Grammar separator: já vs ji

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: já is anadverb and jiapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - á in “já” becomes i in “ji”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

já is recorded at frequency rank #41, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈʒa/. ji is at rank #16,101, tagged as apron.

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 16142, this pair ranks #55,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of já vs ji

Shared letters: j. Private to "já": á. Private to "ji": i.

"já" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ji" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "já" and "ji" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "já" is an adverb and "ji" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "já" or "ji"?

"já" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41 in our Portuguese list, against #16,101 for "ji". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "já" and "ji".

Full dictionary entry for "já" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ji" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #55,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"já" and "ji" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jed vs ji". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #55,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.