torturavstorturadoTell them apart

Quick tell: tortura is a noun, torturado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tortura” is a noun and “torturado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,361
“tortura” frequency rank
#15,699
“torturado” frequency rank
21060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tortura torturado
Definition tratamento que se dá a um ser humano baseado em provocar dor, para se obter alguma atitude, ou para punição compungido

Letter map: tortura vs torturado

Shared letters muted; letters that set tortura and torturado apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. tortura runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against torturado's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tortura
9 ch
torturado

Role in the sentence - tortura and torturado

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tortura is anoun and torturadoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “tortura” sits inside “torturado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tortura is recorded at frequency rank #5,361, classified as anoun, pronounced /tuɾ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/. torturado is at rank #15,699, tagged as anadj.

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 21060, this pair ranks #49,298 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tortura vs torturado

Shared letters: aortu. Private to "tortura": -. Private to "torturado": d.

"tortura" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "torturado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tortura ← otrtura · torrtura · tortrua · torttura · tortuar · torturra · torutra · totrura
  • torturado ← otrturado · torrturado · tortruado · tortturado · tortuardo · torturaddo · torturaod · torturdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tortura" for "torturado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tortura" is a noun and "torturado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tortura" or "torturado"?
"tortura" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,361 in our Portuguese list, against #15,699 for "torturado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tortura" and "torturado".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tortura" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "torturado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,298 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tortura" and "torturado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "torrado vs torturado". 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 #49,298 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