réguavsrenaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,702
“régua” frequency rank
#33,157
“rena” frequency rank
51859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature régua rena
Definition 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 mamífero da família dos cervídeos (Rangifer tarandus), encontrado no Norte da Europa, Ásia e América do Norte, onde habita a tundra ártica; com galhadas presentes nos dois sexos e cascos largos e planos, adaptados para a locomoção na neve; caribu

Where the eye mixes régua and rena

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. régua runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against rena's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
régua
4 ch
rena

Visual trap between régua and rena

A purely visual mix-up. régua (/ˈχɛ.gwə/) and rena (/ˈRe.nɐ/) 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 51859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

régua is recorded at frequency rank #18,702, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈχɛ.gwə/. rena is at rank #33,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRe.nɐ/.

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 51859, this pair ranks #13,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of régua vs rena

Shared letters: ar. Private to "régua": gué. Private to "rena": en.

"régua" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rena" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rena ← erna · rean · renna · rnea · rrena

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "régua" and "rena" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈχɛ.gwə/ versus /ˈRe.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "régua" vs "rena" - which ranks higher?
"régua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,702 in our Portuguese list, against #33,157 for "rena". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "régua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rena" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,243 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "régua" and "rena" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rena vs ruma". 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 #13,243 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