rafale

\ʁa.fal\

/\ʁa.fal\/ noun

The verdict

“rafale” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #59,362 among 963 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,362
frequency rank, Portuguese
963
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - rajada de vento, chuva ou neve repentina

Corpus desk

Index PT-rafale · rafale · Portuguese

rafale · rank #59,362 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,362
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 963
  • PHOTO-FINISH radiologista

Nearest frequency peer: radiologista (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “rafale”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “rafale” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rafale
PropertyValue
Headwordrafale
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁa.fal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#59,362
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “rafale” em português

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).rafalecai nesta cauda de raridade:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “radiologista” (#59,361), “rebolado” (#59,368), “pueril” (#59,355). Entre 963 lemas com “R”, “rafale” fica em #59,362. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rafale is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #59,362 among 963 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁa.fal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "rajada de vento, chuva ou neve repentina".

Zero misspellings are on record for rafale in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is rafale, spelled R-A-F-A-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    rajada de vento, chuva ou neve repentina

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "rafale"?
"rafale" is spelled R-A-F-A-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁa.fal\.
What does "rafale" mean?
As a noun, "rafale" means: rajada de vento, chuva ou neve repentina
How do you pronounce "rafale"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rafale" is \ʁa.fal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rafale" come from?
"rafale" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rafale", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list