rocavsrolhaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,120
“roca” frequency rank
#30,711
“rolha” frequency rank
50831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roca rolha
Definition cana ou vara preparada para fiar peça (normalmente de cortiça) com que se tapam recipientes de boca estreita

Where the eye mixes roca and rolha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
roca
5 ch
rolha

Why the eye confuses roca with rolha

A purely visual mix-up. roca (/ˈRɔ.kɐ/) and rolha (/ˈRo.ʎɐ/) 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 50831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roca is recorded at frequency rank #20,120, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɔ.kɐ/. rolha is at rank #30,711, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈRo.ʎɐ/.

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 50831, this pair ranks #14,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of roca vs rolha

Shared letters: aor. Private to "roca": c. Private to "rolha": hl.

"roca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rolha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rocaorca · rcoa · roac · rocca · rroca
  • rolhaorlha · rloha · rohla · rolah · rolhha · rollha · rrolha

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roca" and "rolha" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈRɔ.kɐ/ versus /ˈRo.ʎɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "roca" or "rolha" show up more?
"roca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,120 in our Portuguese list, against #30,711 for "rolha". 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 "roca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rolha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roca" and "rolha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roca vs ruma". 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 #14,129 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