Which to use
“viro” and “vírus” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,468
- “viro” frequency rank
- #2,346
- “vírus” frequency rank
- 22814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viro | vírus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | homem, indivíduo adulto do sexo masculino | agente infeccioso microscópico, que causa várias doenças (AIDS, gripe, etc.) e provoca a produção de anticorpos |
Where the eye mixes viro and vírus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: viro vs vírus
A purely visual mix-up. viro (/ˈvi.rɔ/) 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 22814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
viro is recorded at frequency rank #20,468, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.rɔ/. 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 22814, this pair ranks #47,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of viro vs vírus
Shared letters: rv. Private to "viro": io. Private to "vírus": suí.
"viro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vírus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- viro ← ivro · vior · virro · vrio · vviro
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "viro" and "vírus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "viro" or "vírus"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "viro" 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 #47,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viro" and "vírus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs viro". 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 #47,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.