raçãovsrastoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,189
“ração” frequency rank
#38,450
“rasto” frequency rank
53639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ração rasto
Definition porção fixa de provisões, especialmente para soldados e marinheiros ou para civis em tempos de escassez vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista

Where the eye mixes ração and rasto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ração (CVCVV) and rasto (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
ração
5 ch
rasto

Why the eye confuses ração with rasto

A purely visual mix-up. ração (/Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and rasto (/ˈRaʃ.tu/) 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 53639, 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/. rasto is at rank #38,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRaʃ.tu/.

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 53639, this pair ranks #11,892 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ração vs rasto

Shared letters: aor. Private to "ração": ãç. Private to "rasto": st.

"ração" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rasto ← arsto · rasot · rassto · rastto · ratso · rrasto · rsato

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ração" for "rasto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈRaʃ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ração" or "rasto"?
"ração" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,189 in our Portuguese list, against #38,450 for "rasto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rasto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,892 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ração" and "rasto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasto vs ratio". 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 #11,892 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