reíavsrojaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: reía is a verb, roja is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reía” is a verb and “roja” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,073
“reía” frequency rank
#1,955
“roja” frequency rank
20028
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reía roja
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de reír o de reírse. Tarjeta roja.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set reía and roja apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
reía
4 ch
roja

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reía is [reˈia] while roja is [ˈroxa]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reía is recorded at frequency rank #18,073, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈia]. roja is at rank #1,955, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈroxa].

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 20028, this pair ranks #261,122 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reía vs roja

Shared letters: ar. Private to "reía": . Private to "roja": jo.

"reía" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "roja" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rojaorja · rjoa · roaj · rojja · rroja

Frequency comparison

reía#18,073
roja#1,955

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reía" and "roja" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reía" is a verb and "roja" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reía" or "roja"?
"roja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,955 in our Spanish list, against #18,073 for "reía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering reía vs roja

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “reía”; for a noun, it's “roja”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “reía” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list