reaçãovsreatarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: reação is a noun, reatar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reação” is a noun and “reatar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,864
“reação” frequency rank
#46,531
“reatar” frequency rank
48395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reação reatar
Definition ação provocada em razão de uma outra anteriormente ocorrida atar de novo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set reação and reatar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
reação
6 ch
reatar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reação is /ʀja.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while reatar is /Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reação is recorded at frequency rank #1,864, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʀja.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. reatar is at rank #46,531, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 48395, this pair ranks #16,776 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reação vs reatar

Shared letters: aer. Private to "reação": oãç. Private to "reatar": t.

"reação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "reatar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reatareratar · raetar · reaatr · reatarr · reatra · reattar · retaar · rreatar

Frequency comparison

reação#1,864
reatar#46,531

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reação" and "reatar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reação" is a noun and "reatar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reação" or "reatar"?
"reação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,864 in our Portuguese list, against #46,531 for "reatar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering reação vs reatar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list