rego vs regra, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#21,864
“rego” frequency rank: #2,594
“regra” frequency rank: 24458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	rego	regra
Definition	sulco que abre o arado	preceito, norma ou lei

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rego and regra apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

rego

5 ch

regra

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rego (/ˈRe.ɡu/) and regra (/ˈRɛ.ɡɾɐ/) 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 24458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rego is recorded at frequency rank #21,864, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRe.ɡu/. regra is at rank #2,594, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɛ.ɡɾɐ/.

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 24458, this pair ranks #45,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rego vs regra

Shared letters: egr. Private to "rego": o. Private to "regra": a.

"rego" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "regra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

rego ← ergo · reggo · reog · rgeo · rrego
regra ← ergra · reggra · regrra · rerga · rgera · rregra

Frequency comparison

rego#21,864

regra#2,594

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rego" and "regra" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈRe.ɡu/ versus /ˈRɛ.ɡɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "rego" or "regra"?

"regra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,594 in our Portuguese list, against #21,864 for "rego". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rego vs regra

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rego” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable