robevsrotaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,134
“robe” frequency rank
#3,167
“rota” frequency rank
46301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robe rota
Definition tipo de roupa feminina e confortável, de tecido leve, com uma abertura na parte da frente, normalmente utilizada sobre outra roupa; penhoar itinerário que se percorre para ir de um lugar para outro; caminho; direção; rumo

Where the eye mixes robe and rota

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

4 ch
robe
4 ch
rota

Visual trap between robe and rota

A purely visual mix-up. robe (/ˈRɔ.bɨ/) and rota (/ˈRɔ.tɐ/) 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 46301, 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/. rota is at rank #3,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɔ.tɐ/.

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 46301, this pair ranks #19,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of robe vs rota

Shared letters: or. Private to "robe": be. Private to "rota": at.

"robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roberboe · robbe · roeb · rrobe
  • rotaorta · roat · rotta · rrota · rtoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "robe" and "rota" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRɔ.bɨ/ versus /ˈRɔ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "robe" or "rota" show up more?
"rota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,167 in our Portuguese list, against #43,134 for "robe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "robe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robe" and "rota" 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 #19,038 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