VénusvsvírusConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,540
“Vénus” frequency rank
#2,346
“vírus” frequency rank
40886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Vénus vírus
Definition Vénus agente infeccioso microscópico, que causa várias doenças (AIDS, gripe, etc.) e provoca a produção de anticorpos

Where the eye mixes Vénus and vírus

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

5 ch
Vénus
5 ch
vírus

Visual trap between Vénus and vírus

A purely visual mix-up. Vénus (/ve.nys/) and vírus (/ˈvi.ɾuʃ/) 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 40886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Vénus is recorded at frequency rank #38,540, classified as anoun, pronounced /ve.nys/. vírus is at rank #2,346, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.ɾuʃ/.

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 40886, this pair ranks #25,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Vénus vs vírus

Shared letters: suv. Private to "Vénus": né. Private to "vírus": rí.

"Vénus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "vírus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Vénus" for "vírus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ve.nys/ versus /ˈvi.ɾuʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Vénus" or "vírus"?
"vírus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,346 in our Portuguese list, against #38,540 for "Vénus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Vénus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vírus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Vénus" and "vírus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "venta vs Vénus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,141 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