reatarvsrecearTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,531
“reatar” frequency rank
#45,052
“recear” frequency rank
91583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reatar recear
Definition atar de novo temer

Where the eye mixes reatar and recear

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reatar (CVVCVC) and recear (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
reatar
6 ch
recear

Visual trap between reatar and recear

A purely visual mix-up. reatar (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/) and recear (/Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/) 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 91583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reatar is recorded at frequency rank #46,531, classified as averb, pronounced /Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/. recear is at rank #45,052, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/.

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 91583, this pair ranks #208 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reatar vs recear

Shared letters: aer. Private to "reatar": t. Private to "recear": c.

"reatar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "recear" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reatar ← eratar · raetar · reaatr · reatarr · reatra · reattar · retaar · rreatar
  • recear ← ercear · rceear · recaer · reccear · recearr · recera · reecar · rrecear

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reatar" and "recear" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "reatar" or "recear" show up more?
"recear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,052 in our Portuguese list, against #46,531 for "reatar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reatar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recear" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #208 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reatar" and "recear" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recear vs renegar". 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 #208 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