ração vs raro, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,189
“ração” frequency rank: #4,588
“raro” frequency rank: 19777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ração	raro
Definition	porção fixa de provisões, especialmente para soldados e marinheiros ou para civis em tempos de escassez	que existe em pouca quantidade, pouco numeroso

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ração and raro apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

ração

4 ch

raro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ração is /Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while raro is /ˈRa.ɾu/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19777, 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/. raro is at rank #4,588, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈRa.ɾu/.

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 19777, this pair ranks #50,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ração vs raro

Shared letters: aor. Private to "ração": ãç. Private to "raro": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

raro ← arro · raor · rarro · rrao · rraro

Frequency comparison

ração#15,189

raro#4,588

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ração" and "raro" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ração" is a noun and "raro" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ração" or "raro"?

"raro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,588 in our Portuguese list, against #15,189 for "ração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ração vs raro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ração”; for an adjective, it's “raro”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ração” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable