virvsvolConfusable pair

Quick tell: vir is a verb, vol is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vir” is a verb and “vol” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#817
“vir” frequency rank
#10,986
“vol” frequency rank
11803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vir vol
Definition transportar-se para o local onde está o interlocutor voo:

Letter map: vir vs vol

Shared letters muted; letters that set vir and vol apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
vir
3 ch
vol

Part-of-speech tell for vir / vol

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: vir is averb and volanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vir is recorded at frequency rank #817, classified as averb. vol is at rank #10,986, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɔl/.

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 11803, this pair ranks #60,970 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vir vs vol

Shared letters: v. Private to "vir": ir. Private to "vol": lo.

"vir" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vir" and "vol" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vir" is a verb and "vol" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vir" or "vol" show up more?
"vir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #817 in our Portuguese list, against #10,986 for "vol". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "vir" vs "vol" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,970 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vir" and "vol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs vol". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #60,970 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