tirarvstrairWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#661
“tirar” frequency rank
#9,589
“trair” frequency rank
10250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tirar trair
Definition pôr para fora; retirar facilmente, em geral com as mãos atraiçoar

Where the eye mixes tirar and trair

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
tirar
5 ch
trair

Look-alike desk: tirar vs trair

A purely visual mix-up. tirar (/t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)]) and trair (/tɾɐ.ˈiɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10250, 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)]. trair is at rank #9,589, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɾɐ.ˈiɾ/.

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 10250, this pair ranks #62,911 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tirar vs trair

Shared letters: airt. Private to "tirar": -. Private to "trair": -.

"tirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "trair" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tiraritrar · tiarr · tirarr · tirra · tirrar · triar · ttirar
  • trairrtair · tarir · trairr · trari · trrair · ttrair

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tirar" and "trair" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/t͡ʃiˈɾa(ʁ)/ [t͡ʃiˈɾa(h)] versus /tɾɐ.ˈiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "tirar" or "trair" show up more?
"tirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #661 in our Portuguese list, against #9,589 for "trair". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tirar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trair" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,911 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tirar" and "trair" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trair vs triz". 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 #62,911 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