Which to use
“ralo” is an adjective and “rasto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,418
- “ralo” frequency rank
- #38,450
- “rasto” frequency rank
- 58868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ralo | rasto |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pouco espesso, pouco denso | vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista |
Where the eye mixes ralo and rasto
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ralo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against rasto's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ralo with rasto
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ralo is /ˈRa.lu/ while rasto is /ˈRaʃ.tu/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ralo is recorded at frequency rank #20,418, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈRa.lu/. 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 58868, this pair ranks #8,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ralo vs rasto
Shared letters: aor. Private to "ralo": l. Private to "rasto": st.
"ralo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "rasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ralo" and "rasto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ralo" or "rasto" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ralo" 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 #8,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ralo" 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 #8,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.