vinvsvinilTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,833
“vin” frequency rank
#13,863
“vinil” frequency rank
36696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vin vinil
Definition vinho radical derivado do hidrocarboneto eteno pela retirada de um átomo de hidrogênio

Where the eye mixes vin and vinil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vin runs 3 letters (CVC) against vinil's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
vin
5 ch
vinil

Why the eye confuses vin with vinil

A purely visual mix-up. vin ([vɜ̃], Plural: [vɜ̃]) and vinil (/vi.ˈniɫ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “vin” sits inside “vinil”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vin is recorded at frequency rank #22,833, classified as anoun, pronounced [vɜ̃], Plural: [vɜ̃]. vinil is at rank #13,863, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vi.ˈniɫ/.

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 36696, this pair ranks #30,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vin vs vinil

Shared letters: inv. Private to "vin": -. Private to "vinil": l.

"vin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vinil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vinil ← ivnil · viinl · vinill · vinli · vinnil · vniil · vvinil

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vin" for "vinil" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vɜ̃], Plural: [vɜ̃] versus /vi.ˈniɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vin" or "vinil" show up more?
"vinil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,863 in our Portuguese list, against #22,833 for "vin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "vin" and "vinil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vinil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vin" and "vinil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vet vs vin". 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 #30,052 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