# ref vs Rio

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### ref
*noun · IPA /ɹɛf/ · frequency rank #7,730*
Clipping of referee.

### Rio
*name · IPA /ˈɹioʊ/ · frequency rank #3,977*
Clipping of Rio de Janeiro.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ref-vs-rio