racevsricoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: race is a verb, rico is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“race” is a verb and “rico” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,436
“race” frequency rank
#976
“rico” frequency rank
15412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature race rico
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de razar. Dicho de una persona, que posee gran cantidad de bienes o dinero.

Where the eye mixes race and rico

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

4 ch
race
4 ch
rico

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: race is [ˈrase] while rico is [ˈriko]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

race is recorded at frequency rank #14,436, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈrase]. rico is at rank #976, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈriko].

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 15412, this pair ranks #280,273 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of race vs rico

Shared letters: cr. Private to "race": ae. Private to "rico": io.

"race" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raceracce · raec · rase · rcae · rrace
  • ricoirco · rcio · ricco · rioc · rrico

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "race" and "rico" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "race" is a verb and "rico" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "race" or "rico"?
"rico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #976 in our Spanish list, against #14,436 for "race". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "race" and "rico". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "race" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #280,273 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "race" and "rico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "race vs rajo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list