JuanvsjudoConfusable pair

Which to use

“Juan” and “judo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,890
“Juan” frequency rank
#31,424
“judo” frequency rank
34314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Juan judo
Definition João o mesmo que judô

Where the eye mixes Juan and judo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Juan (CVVC) and judo (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Juan
4 ch
judo

Visual trap between Juan and judo

A purely visual mix-up. Juan (/'xwan/) and judo (/ˈʒu.du/) 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 34314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Juan is recorded at frequency rank #2,890, classified as anoun, pronounced /'xwan/. judo is at rank #31,424, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʒu.du/.

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 34314, this pair ranks #32,986 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Juan vs judo

Shared letters: ju. Private to "Juan": an. Private to "judo": do.

"Juan" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "judo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Juan ← jaun · jjuan · juann · juna · ujan
  • judo ← jduo · jjudo · juddo · juod · ujdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Juan" for "judo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/'xwan/ versus /ˈʒu.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Juan" or "judo"?
"Juan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,890 in our Portuguese list, against #31,424 for "judo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Juan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "judo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,986 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Juan" and "judo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "judo vs junco". 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 #32,986 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list