refugiarvsrepudiarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,013
“refugiar” frequency rank
#43,624
“repudiar” frequency rank
77637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refugiar repudiar
Definition tomar refúgio rejeitar, não aceitar, romper

Letter map: refugiar vs repudiar

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

8 ch
refugiar
8 ch
repudiar

Pair insight - refugiar / repudiar

refugiar and repudiar 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refugiar is recorded at frequency rank #34,013, classified as averb. repudiar is at rank #43,624, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.pu.ˈdjaɾ/.

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 77637, this pair ranks #1,828 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refugiar vs repudiar

Shared letters: aeiru. Private to "refugiar": fg. Private to "repudiar": dp.

"refugiar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "repudiar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refugiarerfugiar · reffugiar · refguiar · refugair · refuggiar · refugiarr · refugira · refuigar
  • repudiarerpudiar · repduiar · reppudiar · repudair · repuddiar · repudiarr · repudira · repuidar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refugiar" and "repudiar" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "refugiar" vs "repudiar" - which ranks higher?
"refugiar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,013 in our Portuguese list, against #43,624 for "repudiar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "refugiar" and "repudiar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "refugiar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "repudiar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,828 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refugiar" and "repudiar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refugiar 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 #1,828 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