RatvsreyTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,067
“Rat” frequency rank
#8,105
“rey” frequency rank
45172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Rat rey
Definition conselho rei, monarca:

Where the eye mixes Rat and rey

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Rat
3 ch
rey

Look-alike desk: Rat vs rey

A purely visual mix-up. Rat (/raːt/) and rey (/ˈrej/) 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 45172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Rat is recorded at frequency rank #37,067, classified as anoun, pronounced /raːt/. rey is at rank #8,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈrej/.

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 45172, this pair ranks #20,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Rat vs rey

Shared letters: r. Private to "Rat": at. Private to "rey": ey.

"Rat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "rey" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Rat" and "rey" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/raːt/ versus /ˈrej/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Rat" or "rey"?
"rey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,105 in our Portuguese list, against #37,067 for "Rat". 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 "Rat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Rat" and "rey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs Rat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,243 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