regatavsréguaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,433
“regata” frequency rank
#18,702
“régua” frequency rank
37135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature regata régua
Definition corrida de embarcações à porfia instrumento de madeira, plástico ou qualquer outro material sólido com as faces planas e as arestas apropriadas para servirem de guia para se traçar linhas retas

Where the eye mixes regata and régua

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
regata
5 ch
régua

Visual trap between regata and régua

A purely visual mix-up. regata (/Rɨ.ˈɡa.tɐ/) and régua (/ˈχɛ.gwə/) 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 37135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

regata is recorded at frequency rank #18,433, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈɡa.tɐ/. régua is at rank #18,702, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈχɛ.gwə/.

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 37135, this pair ranks #29,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of regata vs régua

Shared letters: agr. Private to "regata": et. Private to "régua": .

"regata" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "régua" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • regataergata · reagta · regaat · regatta · reggata · regtaa · rgeata · rregata

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "regata" for "régua" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɨ.ˈɡa.tɐ/ versus /ˈχɛ.gwə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "regata" or "régua"?
"regata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,433 in our Portuguese list, against #18,702 for "régua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "regata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "régua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,545 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "regata" and "régua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reatar vs regata". 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 #29,545 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