refeiçãovsrepetiçãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,468
“refeição” frequency rank
#12,544
“repetição” frequency rank
19012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refeição repetição
Definition porção de alimento consumido a certas horas do dia ação ou efeito de repetir

Where the eye mixes refeição and repetição

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. refeição runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVV) against repetição's 9 (CVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
refeição
9 ch
repetição

Why the eye confuses refeição with repetição

A purely visual mix-up. refeição (/χe.fej.ˈsãw/) and repetição (/Rɨ.pɨ.ti.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 19012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refeição is recorded at frequency rank #6,468, classified as anoun, pronounced /χe.fej.ˈsãw/. repetição is at rank #12,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.pɨ.ti.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 19012, this pair ranks #51,850 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refeição vs repetição

Shared letters: eiorãç. Private to "refeição": f. Private to "repetição": pt.

"refeição" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV  ·  "repetição" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "refeição" and "repetição" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/χe.fej.ˈsãw/ versus /Rɨ.pɨ.ti.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "refeição" or "repetição" show up more?
"refeição" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,468 in our Portuguese list, against #12,544 for "repetição". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refeição" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "repetição" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,850 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refeição" and "repetição" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refeição vs refração". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #51,850 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