tardevstordoConfusable pair

Quick tell: tarde is a adverb, tordo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tarde” is an adverb and “tordo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#279
“tarde” frequency rank
#40,815
“tordo” frequency rank
41094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tarde tordo
Definition tardiamente, atrasado gênero de pássaros dentirrostros

Where the eye mixes tarde and tordo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tarde
5 ch
tordo

Why the eye confuses tarde with tordo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tarde is /'tax.dʒɪ/ while tordo is /ˈtoɾ.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tarde is recorded at frequency rank #279, classified as anadv, pronounced /'tax.dʒɪ/. tordo is at rank #40,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtoɾ.du/.

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 41094, this pair ranks #24,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tarde vs tordo

Shared letters: drt. Private to "tarde": ae. Private to "tordo": o.

"tarde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tordo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tardeatrde · tadre · tardde · tared · tarrde · trade · ttarde
  • tordootrdo · todro · torddo · torod · torrdo · trodo · ttordo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tarde" and "tordo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tarde" is an adverb and "tordo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tarde" vs "tordo" - which ranks higher?
"tarde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #279 in our Portuguese list, against #40,815 for "tordo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tarde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tordo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tarde" and "tordo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tordo vs turvo". 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 #24,902 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