RoavsRusWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Roa is a name, Rus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Roa” is a name and “Rus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,934
“Roa” frequency rank
#25,803
“Rus” frequency rank
49737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Roa Rus
Definition Apellido Ruso.

Where the eye mixes Roa and Rus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Roa
3 ch
Rus

Look-alike desk: Roa vs Rus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Roa is [ˈroa] while Rus is [rʏs]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Roa is recorded at frequency rank #23,934, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈroa]. Rus is at rank #25,803, tagged as anoun, pronounced [rʏs].

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 49737, this pair ranks #107,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Roa vs Rus

Shared letters: r. Private to "Roa": ao. Private to "Rus": su.

"Roa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Rus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Roa" and "Rus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Roa" is a name and "Rus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Roa" or "Rus" show up more?
"Roa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,934 in our Spanish list, against #25,803 for "Rus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Roa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Rus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,107 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Roa" and "Rus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rias vs Rus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #107,107 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