direvsduraTell them apart

Quick tell: dire is a verb, dura is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dire” is a verb and “dura” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,835
“dire” frequency rank
#2,319
“dura” frequency rank
30154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dire dura
Definition dizer, falar o mesmo que duração ('qualidade do que dura')

Letter map: dire vs dura

Shared letters muted; letters that set dire and dura apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. dire and dura follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
dire
4 ch
dura

Grammar separator: dire vs dura

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dire is averb and duraanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dire is recorded at frequency rank #27,835, classified as averb, pronounced /diʁ/. dura is at rank #2,319, tagged as anoun.

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 30154, this pair ranks #38,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dire vs dura

Shared letters: dr. Private to "dire": ei. Private to "dura": au.

"dire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dura" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dire ← ddire · dier · dirre · drie · idre
  • dura ← ddura · drua · duar · durra · udra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dire" and "dura" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dire" is a verb and "dura" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dire" vs "dura" - which ranks higher?
"dura" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,319 in our Portuguese list, against #27,835 for "dire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dire" and "dura".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dire" and "dura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dink vs dire". 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 #38,284 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