Which to use
“recrutar” and “refutar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,374
- “recrutar” frequency rank
- #31,945
- “refutar” frequency rank
- 49319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recrutar | refutar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | alistar para o serviço militar | combater com argumentos que provam o contrário |
Where the eye mixes recrutar and refutar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. recrutar runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against refutar's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: recrutar vs refutar
A purely visual mix-up. recrutar (/Rɨ.kɾu.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 49319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recrutar is recorded at frequency rank #17,374, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.kɾu.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 49319, this pair ranks #15,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recrutar vs refutar
Shared letters: aertu. Private to "recrutar": c. Private to "refutar": f.
"recrutar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "refutar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recrutar" and "refutar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "recrutar" vs "refutar" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "recrutar" and "refutar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recrutar" 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 #15,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recrutar" and "refutar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refinar vs refutar". 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 #15,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.