robevsrolaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,134
“robe” frequency rank
#6,582
“rola” frequency rank
49716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe rola
Definition tipo de roupa feminina e confortável, de tecido leve, com uma abertura na parte da frente, normalmente utilizada sobre outra roupa; penhoar pequena ave da família dos columbídeos, semelhante à pomba

Where the eye mixes robe and rola

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

4 ch
robe
4 ch
rola

Visual trap between robe and rola

A purely visual mix-up. robe (/ˈRɔ.bɨ/) and rola (/ˈɾo.lɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robe is recorded at frequency rank #43,134, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɔ.bɨ/. rola is at rank #6,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɾo.lɐ/.

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 49716, this pair ranks #15,277 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs rola

Shared letters: or. Private to "robe": be. Private to "rola": al.

"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roberboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe
  • rolarloa · rolla · rrola

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "robe" for "rola" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRɔ.bɨ/ versus /ˈɾo.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "robe" vs "rola" - which ranks higher?
"rola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,582 in our Portuguese list, against #43,134 for "robe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "robe" and "rola" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "robe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,277 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "rola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rabi vs robe". 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 #15,277 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