tirarvstoparConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#661
“tirar” frequency rank
#39,889
“topar” frequency rank
40550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tirar topar
Definition pôr para fora; retirar facilmente, em geral com as mãos encontrar algo

Where the eye mixes tirar and topar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tirar and topar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
tirar
5 ch
topar

Look-alike desk: tirar vs topar

A purely visual mix-up. tirar (/t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)]) and topar (/tu.ˈpaɾ/) 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 40550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tirar is recorded at frequency rank #661, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)]. topar is at rank #39,889, tagged as averb, pronounced /tu.ˈpaɾ/.

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 40550, this pair ranks #25,529 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tirar vs topar

Shared letters: art. Private to "tirar": i. Private to "topar": op.

"tirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "topar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tirar ← itrar · tiarr · tirarr · tirra · tirrar · triar · ttirar
  • topar ← toapr · toparr · toppar · topra · tpoar · ttopar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tirar" and "topar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)] versus /tu.ˈpaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tirar" or "topar"?
"tirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #661 in our Portuguese list, against #39,889 for "topar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tirar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "topar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,529 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tirar" and "topar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "topar vs tosa". 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 #25,529 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