tardavstarefaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,201
“tarda” frequency rank
#2,444
“tarefa” frequency rank
20645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tarda tarefa
Definition tarde encargo, trabalho

Letter map: tarda vs tarefa

Shared letters muted; letters that set tarda and tarefa apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. tarda runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tarefa's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tarda
6 ch
tarefa

Corpus notes: tarda and tarefa

tarda and tarefa are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tarda is recorded at frequency rank #18,201, classified as anoun. tarefa is at rank #2,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taˈɾɛ.fɐ/.

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 20645, this pair ranks #49,805 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tarda vs tarefa

Shared letters: art. Private to "tarda": d. Private to "tarefa": ef.

"tarda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tarefa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tarda ← atrda · tadra · tarad · tardda · tarrda · trada · ttarda
  • tarefa ← atrefa · taerfa · tareaf · tareffa · tarfea · tarrefa · traefa · ttarefa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tarda" and "tarefa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "tarda" vs "tarefa" - which ranks higher?
"tarefa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,444 in our Portuguese list, against #18,201 for "tarda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "tarda" vs "tarefa" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tarda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tarefa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,805 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tarda" and "tarefa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tarda vs turba". 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 #49,805 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