teiavstiraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,694
“teia” frequency rank
#1,953
“tira” frequency rank
17647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature teia tira
Definition conjunto de filamentos proteicos produzidos pelas aranhas para construir abrigos e capturar presas retalho ou pedaço de pano, papel ou outro material, mais comprido que largo

Where the eye mixes teia and tira

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

4 ch
teia
4 ch
tira

Look-alike desk: teia vs tira

A purely visual mix-up. teia (/ˈtɐj.ɐ/) and tira (/ˈt͡ʃi.ɾɐ/) 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 17647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

teia is recorded at frequency rank #15,694, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɐj.ɐ/. tira is at rank #1,953, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃi.ɾɐ/.

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 17647, this pair ranks #53,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of teia vs tira

Shared letters: ait. Private to "teia": e. Private to "tira": r.

"teia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "tira" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • teiaetia · teai · tiea · tteia
  • tiraitra · tiar · tria · ttira

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "teia" and "tira" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈtɐj.ɐ/ versus /ˈt͡ʃi.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "teia" or "tira"?
"tira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,953 in our Portuguese list, against #15,694 for "teia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "teia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "teia" and "tira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teia vs trema". 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 #53,545 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