redesvsrefémWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#902
“redes” frequency rank
#11,531
“refém” frequency rank
12433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature redes refém
Definition plural de rede pessoa ou povoação que fica em poder do inimigo como penhor de um contrato

Letter map: redes vs refém

Shared letters muted; letters that set redes and refém apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

5 ch
redes
5 ch
refém

Corpus notes: redes and refém

redes and refém are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redes is recorded at frequency rank #902, classified as anoun. refém is at rank #11,531, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʀɨ.ˈfɐ̃j̃/.

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 12433, this pair ranks #60,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of redes vs refém

Shared letters: er. Private to "redes": ds. Private to "refém": fmé.

"redes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "refém" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • redeserdes · rdees · reddes · redess · redse · reeds · rredes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "redes" and "refém" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "redes" or "refém" show up more?
"redes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #902 in our Portuguese list, against #11,531 for "refém". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "redes" and "refém".

  • Full dictionary entry for "redes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refém" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "redes" and "refém" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refém vs reles". 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 #60,156 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