rajovsríoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,884
“rajo” frequency rank
#698
“río” frequency rank
50582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rajo río
Definition Excavación en forma de surco profundo para extraer el mineral de cobre. Corriente de agua de caudal importante que discurre por tierra desde un manantial, una masa de hielos o un lago.

Where the eye mixes rajo and río

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

4 ch
rajo
3 ch
río

Look-alike desk: rajo vs río

A purely visual mix-up. rajo ([ˈraxo]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rajo is recorded at frequency rank #49,884, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈraxo]. 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 50582, this pair ranks #102,439 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rajo vs río

Shared letters: or. Private to "rajo": aj. Private to "río": í.

"rajo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "río" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rajoarjo · rajjo · raoj · rjao · rrajo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rajo" for "río" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈraxo] versus [ˈrio]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "rajo" or "río" show up more?
"río" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our Spanish list, against #49,884 for "rajo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rajo" 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 #102,439 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rajo" and "río" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rajo vs ruano". 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 #102,439 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