Which to use
“vírus” is a noun and “vous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,346
- “vírus” frequency rank
- #20,751
- “vous” frequency rank
- 23097
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vírus | vous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | agente infeccioso microscópico, que causa várias doenças (AIDS, gripe, etc.) e provoca a produção de anticorpos | vós, vocês, pronome pessoal da segunda pessoa do plural. |
Where the eye mixes vírus and vous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between vírus and vous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vírus is /ˈvi.ɾuʃ/ while vous is /vu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23097, 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/. vous is at rank #20,751, tagged as apron, pronounced /vu/.
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 23097, this pair ranks #46,795 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vírus vs vous
Shared letters: suv. Private to "vírus": rí. Private to "vous": o.
"vírus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "vous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vous ← ovus · vosu · vouss · vuos · vvous
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vírus" for "vous" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vírus" or "vous" show up more?
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 "vírus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,795 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vírus" and "vous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vénus vs vous". 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 #46,795 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.