reatarvsregarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,531
“reatar” frequency rank
#27,639
“regar” frequency rank
74170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reatar regar
Definition atar de novo molhar as plantas, terra, etc

Where the eye mixes reatar and regar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reatar runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against regar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
reatar
5 ch
regar

Look-alike desk: reatar vs regar

A purely visual mix-up. reatar (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/) and regar (/Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) 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 74170, 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/. regar is at rank #27,639, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 74170, this pair ranks #2,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reatar vs regar

Shared letters: aer. Private to "reatar": t. Private to "regar": g.

"reatar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "regar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reatar ← eratar · raetar · reaatr · reatarr · reatra · reattar · retaar · rreatar
  • regar ← ergar · reagr · regarr · reggar · rgear · rregar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reatar" and "regar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/Rjɐ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "reatar" or "regar" show up more?
"regar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,639 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reatar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "regar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reatar" and "regar" 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 #2,598 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