rate vs reto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,321
“rate” frequency rank: #10,954
“reto” frequency rank: 41275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	rate	reto
Definition	taxa	que não tem curvatura, sinuosidade ou inflexão; que segue sempre a mesma direção; direito, direto

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rate and reto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

rate

4 ch

reto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rate is anoun and retoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rate is recorded at frequency rank #30,321, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹeɪt/, SAMPA: /r\eIt/. reto is at rank #10,954, tagged as anadj.

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 41275, this pair ranks #24,673 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rate vs reto

Shared letters: ert. Private to "rate": a. Private to "reto": o.

"rate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "reto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

rate ← raet · ratte · rrate · rtae
reto ← erto · reot · retto · rreto · rteo

Frequency comparison

rate#30,321

reto#10,954

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rate" and "reto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rate" is a noun and "reto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "rate" or "reto"?

"reto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,954 in our Portuguese list, against #30,321 for "rate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rate vs reto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rate”; for an adjective, it's “reto”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rate” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable