raspavsrastoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,189
“raspa” frequency rank
#38,450
“rasto” frequency rank
74639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raspa rasto
Definition a parte que é retirada de uma superfície que se raspa; apara, lasca vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista

Where the eye mixes raspa and rasto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. raspa and rasto follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
raspa
5 ch
rasto

Why the eye confuses raspa with rasto

A purely visual mix-up. raspa (/ˈRaʃ.pɐ/) and rasto (/ˈRaʃ.tu/) 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 74639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raspa is recorded at frequency rank #36,189, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRaʃ.pɐ/. 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 74639, this pair ranks #2,471 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of raspa vs rasto

Shared letters: ars. Private to "raspa": p. Private to "rasto": ot.

"raspa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "rasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raspa ← arspa · rapsa · rasap · rasppa · rasspa · rraspa · rsapa
  • rasto ← arsto · rasot · rassto · rastto · ratso · rrasto · rsato

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raspa" and "rasto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRaʃ.pɐ/ versus /ˈRaʃ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "raspa" vs "rasto" - which ranks higher?
"raspa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,189 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

Eye-level mix-up between "raspa" and "rasto" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "raspa" 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 #2,471 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "raspa" 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 #2,471 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