thatvstraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: that is a conjunction, tra is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“that” is a conjunction and “tra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,648
“that” frequency rank
#27,694
“tra” frequency rank
31342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature that tra
Definition que coisa

Where the eye mixes that and tra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
that
3 ch
tra

Look-alike desk: that vs tra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: that is /ðæt/ while tra is /tʀa/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

that is recorded at frequency rank #3,648, classified as aconj, pronounced /ðæt/. tra is at rank #27,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʀa/.

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 31342, this pair ranks #36,777 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of that vs tra

Shared letters: at. Private to "that": h. Private to "tra": r.

"that" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "tra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thathtat · taht · thatt · thhat · thta · tthat

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "that" for "tra" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "that" is a conjunction and "tra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "that" vs "tra" - which ranks higher?
"that" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,648 in our Portuguese list, against #27,694 for "tra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "that" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,777 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "that" and "tra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tra vs trema". 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 #36,777 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