ruinvsruzTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,659
“ruin” frequency rank
#33,326
“ruz” frequency rank
63985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ruin ruz
Definition Que por su bajeza merece el desprecio. Rojo.

Where the eye mixes ruin and ruz

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

4 ch
ruin
3 ch
ruz

Visual trap between ruin and ruz

A purely visual mix-up. ruin ([ˈrwĩn]) and ruz ([ˈryːs]) 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 63985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ruin is recorded at frequency rank #30,659, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈrwĩn]. ruz is at rank #33,326, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈryːs].

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 63985, this pair ranks #46,959 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ruin vs ruz

Shared letters: ru. Private to "ruin": in. Private to "ruz": z.

"ruin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "ruz" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ruin ← riun · rruin · ruinn · runi · urin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ruin" for "ruz" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈrwĩn] versus [ˈryːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ruin" vs "ruz" - which ranks higher?
"ruin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,659 in our Spanish list, against #33,326 for "ruz". 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 "ruin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,959 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ruin" and "ruz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rugir vs ruin". 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 #46,959 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