taxarvstirarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,268
“taxar” frequency rank
#661
“tirar” frequency rank
41929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature taxar tirar
Definition estabelecer ou cobrar taxa pôr para fora; retirar facilmente, em geral com as mãos

Where the eye mixes taxar and tirar

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

5 ch
taxar
5 ch
tirar

Why the eye confuses taxar with tirar

A purely visual mix-up. taxar (/taˈʃa(ʁ)/ [taˈʃa(h)]) and tirar (/t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

taxar is recorded at frequency rank #41,268, classified as averb, pronounced /taˈʃa(ʁ)/ [taˈʃa(h)]. tirar is at rank #661, tagged as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)].

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 41929, this pair ranks #23,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of taxar vs tirar

Shared letters: art. Private to "taxar": x. Private to "tirar": i.

"taxar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taxaratxar · taaxr · taxarr · taxra · taxxar · ttaxar · txaar
  • tiraritrar · tiarr · tirarr · tirra · tirrar · triar · ttirar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "taxar" and "tirar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/taˈʃa(ʁ)/ [taˈʃa(h)] versus /t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "taxar" or "tirar" show up more?
"tirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #661 in our Portuguese list, against #41,268 for "taxar". 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 "taxar" and "tirar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "taxar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tirar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "taxar" and "tirar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talão vs taxar". 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 #23,919 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