ratevsrotaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,321
“rate” frequency rank
#3,167
“rota” frequency rank
33488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rate rota
Definition taxa itinerário que se percorre para ir de um lugar para outro; caminho; direção; rumo

Where the eye mixes rate and rota

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rate
4 ch
rota

Why the eye confuses rate with rota

A purely visual mix-up. rate (/ɹeɪt/, SAMPA: /r\eIt/) and rota (/ˈRɔ.tɐ/) 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 33488, 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/. rota is at rank #3,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɔ.tɐ/.

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 33488, this pair ranks #34,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rate vs rota

Shared letters: art. Private to "rate": e. Private to "rota": o.

"rate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rateraet · ratte · rrate · rtae
  • rotaorta · roat · rotta · rrota · rtoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rate" and "rota" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹeɪt/, SAMPA: /r\eIt/ versus /ˈRɔ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rate" vs "rota" - which ranks higher?
"rota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,167 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,022 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rate" and "rota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs rate". 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 #34,022 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