retirarvsretiroWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,041
“retirar” frequency rank
#7,463
“retiro” frequency rank
10504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retirar retiro
Definition pôr fora da presença de alguém ou do sítio (regência verbal com preposição: de) primeira pessoa do singular do presente indicativo do verbo retirar

Where the eye mixes retirar and retiro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. retirar runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against retiro's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
retirar
6 ch
retiro

Look-alike desk: retirar vs retiro

A purely visual mix-up. retirar (/Rɨ.ti.ˈɾaɾ/) and retiro (/Rɨ.ˈti.ɾu/) 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 10504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retirar is recorded at frequency rank #3,041, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ti.ˈɾaɾ/. 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 10504, this pair ranks #62,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of retirar vs retiro

Shared letters: eirt. Private to "retirar": a. Private to "retiro": o.

"retirar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "retiro" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retirar ← ertirar · reitrar · retiarr · retirarr · retirra · retirrar · retriar · rettirar
  • retiro ← ertiro · reitro · retior · retirro · retrio · rettiro · rretiro · rteiro

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "retirar" and "retiro" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ti.ˈɾaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.ˈti.ɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "retirar" vs "retiro" - which ranks higher?
"retirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,041 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "retirar" 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 #62,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retirar" 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 #62,580 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