ríovsrobTell them apart

Which to use

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

#698
“río” frequency rank
#12,919
“rob” frequency rank
13617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature río rob
Definition Corriente de agua de caudal importante que discurre por tierra desde un manantial, una masa de hielos o un lago. Jugo o pulpa de fruta, cocida con azúcar o miel hasta tomar densidad de almíbar.

Where the eye mixes río and rob

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

3 ch
río
3 ch
rob

Look-alike desk: río vs rob

A purely visual mix-up. río ([ˈrio]) and rob ([ˈroβ̞]) 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 13617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

río is recorded at frequency rank #698, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈrio]. rob is at rank #12,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈroβ̞].

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 13617, this pair ranks #287,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of río vs rob

Shared letters: or. Private to "río": í. Private to "rob": b.

"río" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "rob" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "río" for "rob" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrio] versus [ˈroβ̞]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "río" vs "rob" - which ranks higher?
"río" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our Spanish list, against #12,919 for "rob". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "río" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #287,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "río" and "rob" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "riba vs rob". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #287,174 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