ralarvsrasgarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,206
“ralar” frequency rank
#16,594
“rasgar” frequency rank
57800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ralar rasgar
Definition fazer passar pelo ralador; triturar; esmagar; moer fazer rasgões em

Where the eye mixes ralar and rasgar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ralar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against rasgar's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ralar
6 ch
rasgar

Look-alike desk: ralar vs rasgar

A purely visual mix-up. ralar (/Rɐ.ˈlaɾ/) and rasgar (/Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/) 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 57800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ralar is recorded at frequency rank #41,206, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɐ.ˈlaɾ/. rasgar is at rank #16,594, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 57800, this pair ranks #9,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ralar vs rasgar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "ralar": l. Private to "rasgar": gs.

"ralar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rasgar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ralar ← arlar · raalr · ralarr · rallar · ralra · rlaar · rralar
  • rasgar ← arsgar · ragsar · rasagr · rasgarr · rasggar · rasgra · rassgar · rrasgar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ralar" and "rasgar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/Rɐ.ˈlaɾ/ versus /Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ralar" vs "rasgar" - which ranks higher?
"rasgar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,594 in our Portuguese list, against #41,206 for "ralar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ralar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rasgar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,117 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ralar" and "rasgar" 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 #9,117 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