Which to use
“hero” and “herói” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,354
- “hero” frequency rank
- #2,683
- “herói” frequency rank
- 18037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hero | herói |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | herói | indivíduo notável positivamente por seus feitos e/ou capacidades |
Where the eye mixes hero and herói
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hero runs 4 letters (CVCV) against herói's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hero vs herói
A purely visual mix-up. hero (/hɪɹoʊ/, /hiːɹoʊ/) and herói (/e.'ɾɔj/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hero is recorded at frequency rank #15,354, classified as anoun, pronounced /hɪɹoʊ/, /hiːɹoʊ/. herói is at rank #2,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced /e.'ɾɔj/.
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 18037, this pair ranks #53,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hero vs herói
Shared letters: ehr. Private to "hero": o. Private to "herói": ió.
"hero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "herói" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hero ← ehro · heor · herro · hhero · hreo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hero" and "herói" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "hero" vs "herói" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hero" and "herói" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hero" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "herói" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hero" and "herói" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Hebe vs hero". 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 #53,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.