retovsritoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,954
“reto” frequency rank
#16,163
“rito” frequency rank
27117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reto rito
Definition que não tem curvatura, sinuosidade ou inflexão; que segue sempre a mesma direção; direito, direto culto

Letter map: reto vs rito

Shared letters muted; letters that set reto and rito apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
reto
4 ch
rito

Grammar separator: reto vs rito

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reto is anadjective and ritoanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “reto” becomes i in “rito”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reto is recorded at frequency rank #10,954, classified as anadj. rito is at rank #16,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRi.tu/.

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 27117, this pair ranks #41,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reto vs rito

Shared letters: ort. Private to "reto": e. Private to "rito": i.

"reto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rito" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retoerto · reot · retto · rreto · rteo
  • ritoirto · riot · ritto · rrito · rtio

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reto" for "rito" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reto" is an adjective and "rito" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reto" vs "rito" - which ranks higher?
"reto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,954 in our Portuguese list, against #16,163 for "rito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "reto" vs "rito" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reto" and "rito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ratio vs rito". 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 #41,895 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