ráciovsricoTell them apart

Quick tell: rácio is a noun, rico is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rácio” is a noun and “rico” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,370
“rácio” frequency rank
#1,724
“rico” frequency rank
41094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rácio rico
Definition relação diz-se de quem tem muito dinheiro

Letter map: rácio vs rico

Shared letters muted; letters that set rácio and rico apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. rácio runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against rico's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
rácio
4 ch
rico

Role in the sentence - rácio and rico

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rácio is anoun and ricoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rácio is recorded at frequency rank #39,370, classified as anoun. rico is at rank #1,724, tagged as anadj.

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 41094, this pair ranks #24,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rácio vs rico

Shared letters: cior. Private to "rácio": á. Private to "rico": -.

"rácio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "rico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rico ← irco · rcio · ricco · rioc · rrico

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rácio" and "rico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rácio" is a noun and "rico" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rácio" vs "rico" - which ranks higher?
"rico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,724 in our Portuguese list, against #39,370 for "rácio". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "rácio" and "rico".

  • Full dictionary entry for "rácio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rácio" and "rico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs rácio". 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 #24,902 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