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Which to use

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

#15,189
“ração” frequency rank
#31,117
“rana” frequency rank
46306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ração rana
Definition porção fixa de provisões, especialmente para soldados e marinheiros ou para civis em tempos de escassez sol

Where the eye mixes ração and rana

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ração runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against rana's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ração
4 ch
rana

Visual trap between ração and rana

A purely visual mix-up. ração (/Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and rana (/ɽáː.náː/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46306, 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/. rana is at rank #31,117, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɽáː.náː/.

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 46306, this pair ranks #19,031 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ração vs rana

Shared letters: ar. Private to "ração": oãç. Private to "rana": n.

"ração" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rana ← arna · raan · ranna · rnaa · rrana

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ração" and "rana" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɽáː.náː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ração" or "rana" show up more?
"ração" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,189 in our Portuguese list, against #31,117 for "rana". 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 "ração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,031 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ração" and "rana" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs rana". 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 #19,031 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