regarvsrodarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#27,639
“regar” frequency rank
#10,266
“rodar” frequency rank
37905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regar rodar
Definition molhar as plantas, terra, etc fazer andar à roda (transitivo)

Where the eye mixes regar and rodar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. regar and rodar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
regar
5 ch
rodar

Visual trap between regar and rodar

A purely visual mix-up. regar (/Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and rodar (/Ru.ˈdaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regar is recorded at frequency rank #27,639, classified as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/. rodar is at rank #10,266, tagged as averb, pronounced /Ru.ˈdaɾ/.

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 37905, this pair ranks #28,641 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regar vs rodar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "regar": eg. Private to "rodar": do.

"regar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "rodar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regar ← ergar · reagr · regarr · reggar · rgear · rregar
  • rodar ← ordar · rdoar · roadr · rodarr · roddar · rodra · rrodar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "regar" and "rodar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /Ru.ˈdaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "regar" vs "rodar" - which ranks higher?
"rodar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,266 in our Portuguese list, against #27,639 for "regar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rodar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,641 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regar" and "rodar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regar vs renegar". 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 #28,641 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