retiradovsretiroConfusable pair

Quick tell: retirado is a adjective, retiro is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“retirado” is an adjective and “retiro” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,114
“retirado” frequency rank
#7,463
“retiro” frequency rank
13577
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retirado retiro
Definition tirado, eliminado, excluído. primeira pessoa do singular do presente indicativo do verbo retirar

Where the eye mixes retirado and retiro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retirado runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against retiro's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
retirado
6 ch
retiro

Visual trap between retirado and retiro

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retirado is /Rɨ.ti.ˈɾa.du/ while retiro is /Rɨ.ˈti.ɾu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retirado is recorded at frequency rank #6,114, classified as anadj, pronounced /Rɨ.ti.ˈɾa.du/. retiro is at rank #7,463, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈti.ɾu/.

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 13577, this pair ranks #58,720 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of retirado vs retiro

Shared letters: eiort. Private to "retirado": ad. Private to "retiro": -.

"retirado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "retiro" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retirado ← ertirado · reitrado · retiardo · retiraddo · retiraod · retirdao · retirrado · retriado
  • retiro ← ertiro · reitro · retior · retirro · retrio · rettiro · rretiro · rteiro

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "retirado" for "retiro" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retirado" is an adjective and "retiro" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "retirado" vs "retiro" - which ranks higher?
"retirado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,114 in our Portuguese list, against #7,463 for "retiro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "retirado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retiro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,720 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retirado" and "retiro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reativo vs retiro". 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 #58,720 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