rádiovsrançoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#857
“rádio” frequency rank
#36,613
“ranço” frequency rank
37470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rádio ranço
Definition elemento químico de símbolo Ra, possui o número atômico 88 e massa atômica relativa 226,025 u; é um metal alcalino terroso, branco prateado, altamente radioativo; ocorre em todos os minérios de urânio, e é produzido por decaimento radioativo; é utilizado na medicina para tratamento de câncer e, em laboratórios, como fonte de neutrons para análise de materiais aquela comida ou gordura que em contato com o ar tornou de sabor acre

Letter map: rádio vs ranço

Shared letters muted; letters that set rádio and ranço apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. rádio (CVCVV) and ranço (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
rádio
5 ch
ranço

Grammar separator: rádio vs ranço

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rádio is anoun and rançoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rádio is recorded at frequency rank #857, classified as anoun. ranço is at rank #36,613, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈRɐ̃.su/.

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 37470, this pair ranks #29,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rádio vs ranço

Shared letters: or. Private to "rádio": diá. Private to "ranço": anç.

"rádio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "ranço" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rádio" and "ranço" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rádio" is a noun and "ranço" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "rádio" vs "ranço" - which ranks higher?
"rádio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #857 in our Portuguese list, against #36,613 for "ranço". 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 "rádio" and "ranço".

  • Full dictionary entry for "rádio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ranço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rádio" and "ranço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ranço vs ratio". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,134 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