rádiovsrastoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#857
“rádio” frequency rank
#38,450
“rasto” frequency rank
39307
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rádio rasto
Definition elemento químico de símbolo Ra, possui o número atômico 88 e massa atômica relativa 226,025 u; é um metal alcalino terroso, branco prateado, altamente radioativo; ocorre em todos os minérios de urânio, e é produzido por decaimento radioativo; é utilizado na medicina para tratamento de câncer e, em laboratórios, como fonte de neutrons para análise de materiais vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista

Letter map: rádio vs rasto

Shared letters muted; letters that set rádio and rasto apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. rádio (CVCVV) and rasto (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
rádio
5 ch
rasto

Spelling & dictionary notes on rádio vs rasto

rádio and rasto are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rádio is recorded at frequency rank #857, classified as anoun. 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 39307, this pair ranks #26,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rádio vs rasto

Shared letters: or. Private to "rádio": diá. Private to "rasto": ast.

"rádio" · 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 "rádio" for "rasto" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rádio" or "rasto" show up more?
"rádio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #857 in our Portuguese list, against #38,450 for "rasto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "rádio" and "rasto".

  • Full dictionary entry for "rádio" 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 #26,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rádio" 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 #26,979 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