recearvsrestarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,052
“recear” frequency rank
#29,128
“restar” frequency rank
74180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recear restar
Definition temer sobrar

Where the eye mixes recear and restar

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

6 ch
recear
6 ch
restar

Why the eye confuses recear with restar

A purely visual mix-up. recear (/Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/) and restar (/Rɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 74180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recear is recorded at frequency rank #45,052, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/. restar is at rank #29,128, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨʃ.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 74180, this pair ranks #2,594 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recear vs restar

Shared letters: aer. Private to "recear": c. Private to "restar": st.

"recear" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "restar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recear ← ercear · rceear · recaer · reccear · recearr · recera · reecar · rrecear
  • restar ← erstar · resatr · resstar · restarr · restra · resttar · retsar · rrestar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recear" and "restar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈsjaɾ/ versus /Rɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recear" vs "restar" - which ranks higher?
"restar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,128 in our Portuguese list, against #45,052 for "recear". 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 "recear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "restar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,594 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recear" and "restar" 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 #2,594 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