arraiavsarrudaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,277
“arraia” frequency rank
#8,423
“arruda” frequency rank
51700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arraia arruda
Definition o mesmo que raia (peixe) planta lenhosa da família das Rutáceas de cheiro ativo e de folhas amargas, utilizada para aplicações medicinais e atos de crendice; seu nome científico é Ruta chalepensis L.

Where the eye mixes arraia and arruda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
arraia
6 ch
arruda

Why the eye confuses arraia with arruda

A purely visual mix-up. arraia (/ɐ.ˈRaj.ɐ/) and arruda (/ɐ.ˈRu.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arraia is recorded at frequency rank #43,277, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈRaj.ɐ/. arruda is at rank #8,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈRu.dɐ/.

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 51700, this pair ranks #13,388 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of arraia vs arruda

Shared letters: ar. Private to "arraia": i. Private to "arruda": du.

"arraia" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV  ·  "arruda" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arraiaaraia · araria · arraai · arriaa · raraia
  • arrudaarrdua · arruad · arrudda · aruda · arurda · raruda

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arraia" and "arruda" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈRaj.ɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈRu.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "arraia" vs "arruda" - which ranks higher?
"arruda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,423 in our Portuguese list, against #43,277 for "arraia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arraia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arruda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,388 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arraia" and "arruda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arraia vs arriba". 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 #13,388 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