Which to use
“radar” is a noun and “ralar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,454
- “radar” frequency rank
- #41,206
- “ralar” frequency rank
- 48660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | radar | ralar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dispositivo que permite detectar objetos a longas distâncias | fazer passar pelo ralador; triturar; esmagar; moer |
Where the eye mixes radar and ralar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between radar and ralar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: radar is /Ra.ˈdaɾ/ while ralar is /Rɐ.ˈlaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “radar” becomes l in “ralar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
radar is recorded at frequency rank #7,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /Ra.ˈdaɾ/. ralar is at rank #41,206, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɐ.ˈlaɾ/.
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 48660, this pair ranks #16,504 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of radar vs ralar
Shared letters: ar. Private to "radar": d. Private to "ralar": l.
"radar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "ralar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "radar" for "ralar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "radar" or "ralar" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "radar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ralar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,504 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "radar" and "ralar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ralar vs rimar". 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 #16,504 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.