reovsrufoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,380
“reo” frequency rank
#45,592
“rufo” frequency rank
72972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reo rufo
Definition Acusado en juicio, especialmente el criminal. De color entre rubio y rojo, como el de la herrumbre y el cobre.

Where the eye mixes reo and rufo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. reo runs 3 letters (CVV) against rufo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
reo
4 ch
rufo

Visual trap between reo and rufo

A purely visual mix-up. reo ([ˈreo]) and rufo ([ˈrufo]) 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 72972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reo is recorded at frequency rank #27,380, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈreo]. rufo is at rank #45,592, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈrufo].

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 72972, this pair ranks #24,246 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reo vs rufo

Shared letters: or. Private to "reo": e. Private to "rufo": fu.

"reo" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "rufo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rufo ← rfuo · rrufo · ruffo · ruof · urfo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reo" for "rufo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈreo] versus [ˈrufo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "reo" or "rufo" show up more?
"reo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,380 in our Spanish list, against #45,592 for "rufo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "reo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rufo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,246 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reo" and "rufo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rajo vs rufo". 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 #24,246 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