viésvsvírusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,491
“viés” frequency rank
#2,346
“vírus” frequency rank
16837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set viés and vírus apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
viés
5 ch
vírus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. viés (/ˈvjɛʃ/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viés is recorded at frequency rank #14,491, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvjɛʃ/. 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 16837, this pair ranks #54,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of viés vs vírus

Shared letters: sv. Private to "viés": . Private to "vírus": ruí.

"viés" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vírus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

viés#14,491
vírus#2,346

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "viés" and "vírus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvjɛʃ/ versus /ˈvi.ɾuʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "viés" or "vírus"?
"vírus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,346 in our Portuguese list, against #14,491 for "viés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering viés vs vírus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “viés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list