ruevsruegaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,145
“rue” frequency rank
#18,971
“ruega” frequency rank
40116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rue ruega
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de ruar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de rogar.

Where the eye mixes rue and ruega

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
rue
5 ch
ruega

Why the eye confuses rue with ruega

A purely visual mix-up. rue ([ˈrwe]) and ruega ([ˈrweɣ̞a]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “rue” sits inside “ruega”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rue is recorded at frequency rank #21,145, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈrwe]. ruega is at rank #18,971, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈrweɣ̞a].

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 40116, this pair ranks #160,810 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rue vs ruega

Shared letters: eru. Private to "rue": -. Private to "ruega": ag.

"rue" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "ruega" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ruegareuga · rruega · rueag · ruegga · rugea · urega

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rue" for "ruega" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrwe] versus [ˈrweɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rue" or "ruega"?
"ruega" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,971 in our Spanish list, against #21,145 for "rue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,810 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rue" and "ruega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rue vs rulo". 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 #160,810 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