riscovsrisoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,084
“risco” frequency rank
#10,434
“riso” frequency rank
11518
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature risco riso
Definition delineamento; modelo; plano; planta; sulco; traçado; traço ato ou efeito de rir; demonstração clara e geralmente espontânea de alegria

Where the eye mixes risco and riso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
risco
4 ch
riso

Why the eye confuses risco with riso

A purely visual mix-up. risco (/ˈRiʃ.ku/) and riso (/ˈRi.zu/) 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 11518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

risco is recorded at frequency rank #1,084, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRiʃ.ku/. 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 11518, this pair ranks #61,311 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of risco vs riso

Shared letters: iors. Private to "risco": c. Private to "riso": -.

"risco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "riso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • riscoirsco · ricso · riscco · risoc · rissco · rrisco · rsico
  • risoirso · rios · risso · rriso · rsio

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "risco" and "riso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRiʃ.ku/ versus /ˈRi.zu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "risco" vs "riso" - which ranks higher?
"risco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,084 in our Portuguese list, against #10,434 for "riso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "risco" 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 #61,311 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "risco" and "riso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "riso vs rust". 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 #61,311 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