ratvsroiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,577
“rat” frequency rank
#35,242
“roi” frequency rank
76819
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rat roi
Definition Rata Rey.

Where the eye mixes rat and roi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. rat (CVC) and roi (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
rat
3 ch
roi

Look-alike desk: rat vs roi

A purely visual mix-up. rat ([ɹæt]) and roi (/ʀwa/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rat is recorded at frequency rank #41,577, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɹæt]. roi is at rank #35,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ʀwa/.

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 76819, this pair ranks #17,049 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rat vs roi

Shared letters: r. Private to "rat": at. Private to "roi": io.

"rat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "roi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rat" for "roi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɹæt] versus /ʀwa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rat" or "roi"?
"roi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,242 in our Spanish list, against #41,577 for "rat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "rat" and "roi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,049 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rat" and "roi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rasta vs rat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,049 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