rançovsrastoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ranço is a adjective, rasto is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ranço” is an adjective and “rasto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,613
“ranço” frequency rank
#38,450
“rasto” frequency rank
75063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ranço rasto
Definition aquela comida ou gordura que em contato com o ar tornou de sabor acre vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista

Where the eye mixes ranço and rasto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ranço
5 ch
rasto

Visual trap between ranço and rasto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ranço is /ˈRɐ̃.su/ while rasto is /ˈRaʃ.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ranço is recorded at frequency rank #36,613, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈRɐ̃.su/. 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 75063, this pair ranks #2,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ranço vs rasto

Shared letters: aor. Private to "ranço": . Private to "rasto": st.

"ranço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "rasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rastoarsto · rasot · rassto · rastto · ratso · rrasto · rsato

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ranço" and "rasto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ranço" is an adjective and "rasto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ranço" vs "rasto" - which ranks higher?
"ranço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,613 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.

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 "ranço" 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 #2,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ranço" 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 #2,379 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