rasgarvsrestarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,594
“rasgar” frequency rank
#29,128
“restar” frequency rank
45722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rasgar restar
Definition fazer rasgões em sobrar

Where the eye mixes rasgar and restar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rasgar and restar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
rasgar
6 ch
restar

Why the eye confuses rasgar with restar

A purely visual mix-up. rasgar (/Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/) and restar (/Rɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rasgar is recorded at frequency rank #16,594, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/. restar is at rank #29,128, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 45722, this pair ranks #19,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rasgar vs restar

Shared letters: ars. Private to "rasgar": g. Private to "restar": et.

"rasgar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "restar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rasgar ← arsgar · ragsar · rasagr · rasgarr · rasggar · rasgra · rassgar · rrasgar
  • restar ← erstar · resatr · resstar · restarr · restra · resttar · retsar · rrestar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rasgar" for "restar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɐʒ.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /Rɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rasgar" or "restar"?
"rasgar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,594 in our Portuguese list, against #29,128 for "restar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rasgar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "restar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,675 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rasgar" and "restar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reatar vs restar". 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 #19,675 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