reatarvsrefutarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,531
“reatar” frequency rank
#31,945
“refutar” frequency rank
78476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reatar refutar
Definition atar de novo combater com argumentos que provam o contrário

Where the eye mixes reatar and refutar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reatar runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against refutar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
reatar
7 ch
refutar

Why the eye confuses reatar with refutar

A purely visual mix-up. reatar (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/) and refutar (/Rɨ.fu.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78476, 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/. refutar is at rank #31,945, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.fu.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 78476, this pair ranks #1,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reatar vs refutar

Shared letters: aert. Private to "reatar": -. Private to "refutar": fu.

"reatar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "refutar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reatar ← eratar · raetar · reaatr · reatarr · reatra · reattar · retaar · rreatar
  • refutar ← erfutar · reffutar · reftuar · refuatr · refutarr · refutra · refuttar · reuftar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reatar" for "refutar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.fu.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "reatar" or "refutar"?
"refutar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,945 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reatar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refutar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reatar" and "refutar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reatar vs recear". 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 #1,672 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