rã vs ré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,019
“rã” frequency rank: #9,922
“ré” frequency rank: 37941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	rã	ré
Definition	anfíbio da ordem dos anuros que possui pele lisa; geralmente, da família dos ranídeos	segunda nota musical da escala de dó maior

Where the eye mixes rã and ré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

rã

2 ch

ré

Why the eye confuses rã with ré

A purely visual mix-up. rã (/ˈχã/) and ré (/ˈRɛ/) 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 a single letter - ã in “rã” becomes é in “ré”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rã is recorded at frequency rank #28,019, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈχã/. ré is at rank #9,922, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɛ/.

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 37941, this pair ranks #28,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rã vs ré

Shared letters: r. Private to "rã": ã. Private to "ré": é.

"rã" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ré" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rã" and "ré" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈχã/ versus /ˈRɛ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "rã" or "ré"?

"ré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,922 in our Portuguese list, against #28,019 for "rã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "rã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #28,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"rã" and "ré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rã vs rabi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,599 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.