reclamarvsrelaxarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,760
“reclamar” frequency rank
#6,112
“relaxar” frequency rank
10872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reclamar relaxar
Definition protestar tranquilizar

Where the eye mixes reclamar and relaxar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
reclamar
7 ch
relaxar

Look-alike desk: reclamar vs relaxar

A purely visual mix-up. reclamar (/Rɨ.klɐ.ˈmaɾ/) and relaxar (/Rɨ.la.ˈʃaɾ/) 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 10872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reclamar is recorded at frequency rank #4,760, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.klɐ.ˈmaɾ/. relaxar is at rank #6,112, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.la.ˈʃaɾ/.

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 10872, this pair ranks #62,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reclamar vs relaxar

Shared letters: aelr. Private to "reclamar": cm. Private to "relaxar": x.

"reclamar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "relaxar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reclamarerclamar · rcelamar · recalmar · recclamar · reclaamr · reclamarr · reclammar · reclamra
  • relaxarerlaxar · realxar · relaaxr · relaxarr · relaxra · relaxxar · rellaxar · relxaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reclamar" for "relaxar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.klɐ.ˈmaɾ/ versus /Rɨ.la.ˈʃaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "reclamar" or "relaxar" show up more?
"reclamar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,760 in our Portuguese list, against #6,112 for "relaxar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reclamar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "relaxar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,104 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reclamar" and "relaxar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reatar vs relaxar". 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 #62,104 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