rezavsrezarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,811
“reza” frequency rank
#7,464
“rezar” frequency rank
16275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reza rezar
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo rezar apresentar um pedido ou agradecimento (por graça alcançada) a Deus ou a um objeto de devoção

Where the eye mixes reza and rezar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
reza
5 ch
rezar

Why the eye confuses reza with rezar

A purely visual mix-up. reza (/ˈχɛ.za/) and rezar (/Rɨ.ˈzaɾ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “reza” sits inside “rezar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reza is recorded at frequency rank #8,811, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈχɛ.za/. rezar is at rank #7,464, tagged as averb, pronounced /Rɨ.ˈzaɾ/.

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 16275, this pair ranks #55,297 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reza vs rezar

Shared letters: aerz. Private to "reza": -. Private to "rezar": -.

"reza" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rezar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rezaerza · reaz · rezza · rreza · rzea
  • rezarerzar · reazr · rezarr · rezra · rezzar · rrezar · rzear

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reza" for "rezar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈχɛ.za/ versus /Rɨ.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reza" vs "rezar" - which ranks higher?
"rezar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,464 in our Portuguese list, against #8,811 for "reza". 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 "reza" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rezar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,297 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reza" and "rezar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rezar vs rimar". 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 #55,297 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