iravsironTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,314
“ira” frequency rank
#13,963
“iron” frequency rank
19277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ira iron
Definition cólera ferro, elemento químico de número atômico 26 e símbolo Fe

Where the eye mixes ira and iron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ira runs 3 letters (VCV) against iron's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ira
4 ch
iron

Visual trap between ira and iron

A purely visual mix-up. ira (/ˈi.ɾɐ/) and iron (/ˈaɪərn/, ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 19277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ira is recorded at frequency rank #5,314, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.ɾɐ/. iron is at rank #13,963, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪərn/, ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 19277, this pair ranks #51,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ira vs iron

Shared letters: ir. Private to "ira": a. Private to "iron": no.

"ira" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "iron" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • iron ← iorn · irno · ironn · irron · rion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ira" and "iron" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈi.ɾɐ/ versus /ˈaɪərn/, ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ira" or "iron"?
"ira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,314 in our Portuguese list, against #13,963 for "iron". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "iron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ira" and "iron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ino vs iron". 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 #51,492 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