raçãovsracharConfusable pair

Quick tell: ração is a noun, rachar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ração” is a noun and “rachar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,189
“ração” frequency rank
#31,522
“rachar” frequency rank
46711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ração rachar
Definition porção fixa de provisões, especialmente para soldados e marinheiros ou para civis em tempos de escassez dividir em rachas

Where the eye mixes ração and rachar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ração runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against rachar's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ração
6 ch
rachar

Visual trap between ração and rachar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ração is /Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while rachar is /Rɐ.ˈʃaɾ/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ração is recorded at frequency rank #15,189, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. rachar is at rank #31,522, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɐ.ˈʃaɾ/.

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 46711, this pair ranks #18,597 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ração vs rachar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "ração": oãç. Private to "rachar": ch.

"ração" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rachar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rachar ← archar · racahr · racchar · racharr · rachhar · rachra · rahcar · rcahar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ração" for "rachar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ração" is a noun and "rachar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ração" or "rachar"?
"ração" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,189 in our Portuguese list, against #31,522 for "rachar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rachar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,597 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ração" and "rachar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rachar vs recear". 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 #18,597 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