refugiarvsrefutarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,013
“refugiar” frequency rank
#31,945
“refutar” frequency rank
65958
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refugiar refutar
Definition tomar refúgio combater com argumentos que provam o contrário

Letter map: refugiar vs refutar

Shared letters muted; letters that set refugiar and refutar apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
refugiar
7 ch
refutar

Corpus notes: refugiar and refutar

refugiar and refutar 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refugiar is recorded at frequency rank #34,013, classified as averb. 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 65958, this pair ranks #5,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refugiar vs refutar

Shared letters: aefru. Private to "refugiar": gi. Private to "refutar": t.

"refugiar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "refutar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refugiarerfugiar · reffugiar · refguiar · refugair · refuggiar · refugiarr · refugira · refuigar
  • refutarerfutar · reffutar · reftuar · refuatr · refutarr · refutra · refuttar · reuftar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "refugiar" for "refutar" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "refugiar" vs "refutar" - which ranks higher?
"refutar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,945 in our Portuguese list, against #34,013 for "refugiar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "refugiar" and "refutar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refugiar" 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 #5,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refugiar" 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 #5,164 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