robovsroleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,424
“robo” frequency rank
#42,679
“role” frequency rank
45103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robo role
Definition Efecto y acto de robar. Papel, rol.

Where the eye mixes robo and role

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

4 ch
robo
4 ch
role

Visual trap between robo and role

A purely visual mix-up. robo ([ˈroβ̞o]) and role (/ɹəʊl/) 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 45103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robo is recorded at frequency rank #2,424, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈroβ̞o]. role is at rank #42,679, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹəʊl/.

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 45103, this pair ranks #133,387 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of robo vs role

Shared letters: or. Private to "robo": b. Private to "role": el.

"robo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "role" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roboorbo · rboo · robbo · roob · rovo · rrobo
  • roleorle · rloe · roel · rolle · rrole

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "robo" for "role" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈroβ̞o] versus /ɹəʊl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "robo" vs "role" - which ranks higher?
"robo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,424 in our Spanish list, against #42,679 for "role". 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 "robo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "role" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,387 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robo" and "role" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "role vs roller". 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 #133,387 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