Which to use
“reação” and “recado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,864
- “reação” frequency rank
- #4,673
- “recado” frequency rank
- 6537
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reação | recado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ação provocada em razão de uma outra anteriormente ocorrida | participação ou aviso (verbal ou escrito, enviado por uma pessoa a outra) |
Where the eye mixes reação and recado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses reação with recado
A purely visual mix-up. reação (/ʀja.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and recado (/Rɨ.ˈka.du/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6537, 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/. recado is at rank #4,673, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈka.du/.
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 6537, this pair ranks #67,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reação vs recado
Shared letters: aeor. Private to "reação": ãç. Private to "recado": cd.
"reação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "recado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- recado ← ercado · rceado · reacdo · recaddo · recaod · reccado · recdao · rrecado
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reação" and "recado" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "reação" vs "recado" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "reação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reação" and "recado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reação vs refração". 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 #67,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.