rastovsrastroWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,450
“rasto” frequency rank
#15,663
“rastro” frequency rank
54113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rasto rastro
Definition vestígio da passagem de alguém ou de algum animal; indício, pegada, pista veja rasto

Where the eye mixes rasto and rastro

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

5 ch
rasto
6 ch
rastro

Look-alike desk: rasto vs rastro

A purely visual mix-up. rasto (/ˈRaʃ.tu/) and rastro ('ʁaʃ.tɾʊ) 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 54113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rasto is recorded at frequency rank #38,450, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRaʃ.tu/. rastro is at rank #15,663, tagged as anoun, pronounced 'ʁaʃ.tɾʊ.

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 54113, this pair ranks #11,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rasto vs rastro

Shared letters: aorst. Private to "rasto": -. Private to "rastro": -.

"rasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "rastro" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rasto ← arsto · rasot · rassto · rastto · ratso · rrasto · rsato
  • rastro ← arstro · rasrto · rasstro · rastor · rastrro · rasttro · ratsro · rrastro

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rasto" and "rastro" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRaʃ.tu/ versus 'ʁaʃ.tɾʊ) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rasto" vs "rastro" - which ranks higher?
"rastro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,663 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rasto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rastro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rasto" and "rastro" 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 #11,535 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