Which to use
“retrato” is a noun and “retro” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,178
- “retrato” frequency rank
- #24,145
- “retro” frequency rank
- 28323
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retrato | retro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | imagem (de pessoa) pintada, desenhada ou fotografada | que tem traço aspectual que remonta ou é similar a de coisa que já foi comum, vigente ou generalizado em tempo passado |
Where the eye mixes retrato and retro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. retrato runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against retro's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: retrato vs retro
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retrato is /ʀe'tɾatʊ/ while retro is /ˈχɛ.tɾʊ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retrato is recorded at frequency rank #4,178, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʀe'tɾatʊ/. retro is at rank #24,145, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈχɛ.tɾʊ/.
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 28323, this pair ranks #40,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retrato vs retro
Shared letters: eort. Private to "retrato": a. Private to "retro": -.
"retrato" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "retro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retrato" for "retro" ever safe?
Which is more common, "retrato" or "retro"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "retrato" and "retro" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retrato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retrato" and "retro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ratio vs retro". 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 #40,492 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.