Which to use
“refração” and “refrão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,575
- “refração” frequency rank
- #13,377
- “refrão” frequency rank
- 60952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refração | refrão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mudança na direção de propagação de uma onda devido a uma mudança no meio pelo qual ela transita | fala ou dito popular que exprime uma ideia, uma lição, etc. |
Where the eye mixes refração and refrão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. refração runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against refrão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between refração and refrão
A purely visual mix-up. refração (/Rɨ.fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and refrão (/ʁeˈfɾɐ̃w̃/ [heˈfɾɐ̃ʊ̯̃]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refração is recorded at frequency rank #47,575, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. refrão is at rank #13,377, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʁeˈfɾɐ̃w̃/ [heˈfɾɐ̃ʊ̯̃].
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 60952, this pair ranks #7,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of refração vs refrão
Shared letters: eforã. Private to "refração": aç. Private to "refrão": -.
"refração" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "refrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refração" and "refrão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "refração" or "refrão" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "refração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refrão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refração" and "refrão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recriação vs refração". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #7,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.