rapidezvsrápidoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#11,136
“rapidez” frequency rank
#811
“rápido” frequency rank
11947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rapidez rápido
Definition qualidade do que é rápido; velocidade; celeridade; prontidão: que anda depressa

Where the eye mixes rapidez and rápido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. rapidez runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against rápido's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
rapidez
6 ch
rápido

Why the eye confuses rapidez with rápido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rapidez is /Rɐ.pi.ˈdeʃ/ while rápido is /ˈRa.pi.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rapidez is recorded at frequency rank #11,136, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɐ.pi.ˈdeʃ/. rápido is at rank #811, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈRa.pi.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 11947, this pair ranks #60,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rapidez vs rápido

Shared letters: dipr. Private to "rapidez": aez. Private to "rápido": oá.

"rapidez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "rápido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rapidez ← arpidez · raipdez · rapdiez · rapiddez · rapidezz · rapidze · rapiedz · rappidez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rapidez" and "rápido" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rapidez" is a noun and "rápido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rapidez" or "rápido"?
"rápido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #811 in our Portuguese list, against #11,136 for "rapidez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rapidez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rápido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rapidez" and "rápido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rapida vs rapidez". 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 #60,780 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