vírus vs Vis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,346
“vírus” frequency rank: #21,333
“Vis” frequency rank: 23679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes vírus and Vis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch

vírus

3 ch

Vis

Visual trap between vírus and Vis

A purely visual mix-up. vírus (/ˈvi.ɾuʃ/) and Vis (/vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vírus is recorded at frequency rank #2,346, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.ɾuʃ/. Vis is at rank #21,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 23679, this pair ranks #46,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vírus vs Vis

Shared letters: sv. Private to "vírus": ruí. Private to "Vis": i.

"vírus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Vis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vírus" and "Vis" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈvi.ɾuʃ/ versus /vɪs/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vírus" or "Vis" show up more?

"vírus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,346 in our Portuguese list, against #21,333 for "Vis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vírus" and "Vis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "vírus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Vis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #46,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"vírus" and "Vis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vis vs visar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #46,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.