tirovstornoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,480
“tiro” frequency rank
#1,513
“torno” frequency rank
2993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tiro torno
Definition ato de disparar uma arma de fogo aparelho usado em carpintaria que faz girar a velocidade uma peça de madeira que assim é lavrada ou torneada

Where the eye mixes tiro and torno

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

4 ch
tiro
5 ch
torno

Look-alike desk: tiro vs torno

A purely visual mix-up. tiro (/ˈti.ɾu/) and torno (/ˈtoɾ.nu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tiro is recorded at frequency rank #1,480, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈti.ɾu/. torno is at rank #1,513, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtoɾ.nu/.

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 2993, this pair ranks #72,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tiro vs torno

Shared letters: ort. Private to "tiro": i. Private to "torno": n.

"tiro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "torno" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tiroitro · tior · tirro · trio · ttiro
  • tornootrno · tonro · tornno · toron · torrno · ttorno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tiro" for "torno" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈti.ɾu/ versus /ˈtoɾ.nu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tiro" vs "torno" - which ranks higher?
"tiro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,480 in our Portuguese list, against #1,513 for "torno". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tiro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "torno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tiro" and "torno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tiro vs tufo". 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 #72,222 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