redvsrodaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: red is a adjective, roda is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,284
“red” frequency rank
#3,643
“roda” frequency rank
6927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature red roda
Definition vermelho, encarnado peça de formato circular que, presa a um eixo central, desempenha várias finalidades cinéticas (como a roda de um moinho, de um torno, etc.)

Where the eye mixes red and roda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
red
4 ch
roda

Why the eye confuses red with roda

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: red is /red/ while roda is /ˈʁɔ.dɐ/ [ˈhɔ.dɐ]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

red is recorded at frequency rank #3,284, classified as anadj, pronounced /red/. roda is at rank #3,643, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʁɔ.dɐ/ [ˈhɔ.dɐ].

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 6927, this pair ranks #67,362 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of red vs roda

Shared letters: dr. Private to "red": e. Private to "roda": ao.

"red" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "roda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rodaorda · rdoa · rodda · rroda

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "red" and "roda" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "red" is an adjective and "roda" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "red" or "roda" show up more?
"red" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,284 in our Portuguese list, against #3,643 for "roda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "red" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,362 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "red" and "roda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roda vs ruma". 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 #67,362 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