radiovsríoConfusable pair

Which to use

“radio” and “río” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#833
“radio” frequency rank
#698
“río” frequency rank
1531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature radio río
Definition Segmento de recta que tiene por extremos el punto centro y un punto cualquiera de la circunferencia. Corriente de agua de caudal importante que discurre por tierra desde un manantial, una masa de hielos o un lago.

Where the eye mixes radio and río

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

5 ch
radio
3 ch
río

Visual trap between radio and río

A purely visual mix-up. radio ([ˈrað̞jo]) and río ([ˈrio]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

radio is recorded at frequency rank #833, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrað̞jo]. río is at rank #698, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈrio].

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 1531, this pair ranks #321,900 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of radio vs río

Shared letters: or. Private to "radio": adi. Private to "río": í.

"radio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "río" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • radioardio · raddio · radoi · raido · rdaio · rradio

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "radio" for "río" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrað̞jo] versus [ˈrio]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "radio" or "río"?
"río" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our Spanish list, against #833 for "radio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "radio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "río" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #321,900 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "radio" and "río" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "radio 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

Confusion rank #321,900 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list