redaçãovsrefraçãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,514
“redação” frequency rank
#47,575
“refração” frequency rank
52089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature redação refração
Definition ato ou efeito de redigir mudança na direção de propagação de uma onda devido a uma mudança no meio pelo qual ela transita

Where the eye mixes redação and refração

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. redação runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against refração's 8 (CVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
redação
8 ch
refração

Visual trap between redação and refração

A purely visual mix-up. redação (/Rɨ.da.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and refração (/Rɨ.fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 52089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redação is recorded at frequency rank #4,514, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.da.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. refração is at rank #47,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 52089, this pair ranks #13,043 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of redação vs refração

Shared letters: aeorãç. Private to "redação": d. Private to "refração": f.

"redação" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "refração" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "redação" for "refração" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.da.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /Rɨ.fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "redação" or "refração" show up more?
"redação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,514 in our Portuguese list, against #47,575 for "refração". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "redação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refração" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,043 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "redação" and "refração" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recriação vs refração". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #13,043 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