Which to use
“tarde” is an adverb and “true” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #279
- “tarde” frequency rank
- #9,418
- “true” frequency rank
- 9697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tarde | true |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tardiamente, atrasado | verdadeiro, verídico |
Where the eye mixes tarde and true
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tarde runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against true's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tarde vs true
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tarde is /'tax.dʒɪ/ while true is /truː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9697, 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/. true is at rank #9,418, tagged as anadj, pronounced /truː/.
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 9697, this pair ranks #63,650 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tarde vs true
Shared letters: ert. Private to "tarde": ad. Private to "true": u.
"tarde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "true" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tarde" and "true" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tarde" or "true" show up more?
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 "tarde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "true" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,650 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tarde" and "true" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tique vs true". 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 #63,650 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.