retovsrostoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,954
“reto” frequency rank
#1,199
“rosto” frequency rank
12153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reto rosto
Definition que não tem curvatura, sinuosidade ou inflexão; que segue sempre a mesma direção; direito, direto face, cara

Letter map: reto vs rosto

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

4 ch
reto
5 ch
rosto

Grammar separator: reto vs rosto

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reto is anadjective and rostoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reto is recorded at frequency rank #10,954, classified as anadj. rosto is at rank #1,199, tagged as anoun.

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 12153, this pair ranks #60,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reto vs rosto

Shared letters: ort. Private to "reto": e. Private to "rosto": s.

"reto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rosto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retoerto · reot · retto · rreto · rteo
  • rostoorsto · rosot · rossto · rostto · rotso · rrosto · rsoto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reto" and "rosto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reto" is an adjective and "rosto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reto" vs "rosto" - which ranks higher?
"rosto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,199 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.

Useful next steps

Pair "reto" vs "rosto" 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 "rosto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reto" and "rosto" 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 #60,526 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