rapinavsruínaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,751
“rapina” frequency rank
#17,138
“ruína” frequency rank
52889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rapina ruína
Definition ato ou efeito de rapinar um prédio ou local destruído, decaído

Where the eye mixes rapina and ruína

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
rapina
5 ch
ruína

Why the eye confuses rapina with ruína

A purely visual mix-up. rapina (/Rɐ.ˈpi.nɐ/) and ruína (/ˈʀwi.nɐ/) 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 52889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rapina is recorded at frequency rank #35,751, classified as anoun, pronounced /Rɐ.ˈpi.nɐ/. ruína is at rank #17,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʀwi.nɐ/.

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 52889, this pair ranks #12,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rapina vs ruína

Shared letters: anr. Private to "rapina": ip. Private to "ruína": .

"rapina" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "ruína" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rapinaarpina · raipna · rapian · rapinna · rapnia · rappina · rpaina · rrapina

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rapina" for "ruína" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/Rɐ.ˈpi.nɐ/ versus /ˈʀwi.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rapina" vs "ruína" - which ranks higher?
"ruína" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,138 in our Portuguese list, against #35,751 for "rapina". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rapina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruína" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rapina" and "ruína" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rapida vs rapina". 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 #12,415 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