retovsrisoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,954
“reto” frequency rank
#10,434
“riso” frequency rank
21388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reto riso
Definition que não tem curvatura, sinuosidade ou inflexão; que segue sempre a mesma direção; direito, direto ato ou efeito de rir; demonstração clara e geralmente espontânea de alegria

Letter map: reto vs riso

Shared letters muted; letters that set reto and riso apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
reto
4 ch
riso

Grammar separator: reto vs riso

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reto is anadjective and risoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reto is recorded at frequency rank #10,954, classified as anadj. riso is at rank #10,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRi.zu/.

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 21388, this pair ranks #48,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reto vs riso

Shared letters: or. Private to "reto": et. Private to "riso": is.

"reto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "riso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retoerto · reot · retto · rreto · rteo
  • risoirso · rios · risso · rriso · rsio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reto" and "riso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reto" is an adjective and "riso" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reto" or "riso"?
"riso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,434 in our Portuguese list, against #10,954 for "reto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "reto" and "riso". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "riso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reto" and "riso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ratio vs reto". 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 #48,902 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