rodavsroxoTell them apart

Quick tell: roda is a noun, roxo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,643
“roda” frequency rank
#8,106
“roxo” frequency rank
11749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roda roxo
Definition peça de formato circular que, presa a um eixo central, desempenha várias finalidades cinéticas (como a roda de um moinho, de um torno, etc.) que tem uma cor que resulta da junção do encarnado com o azul

Where the eye mixes roda and roxo

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

4 ch
roda
4 ch
roxo

Why the eye confuses roda with roxo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: roda is /ˈʁɔ.dɐ/ [ˈhɔ.dɐ] while roxo is /ˈRo.ʃu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roda is recorded at frequency rank #3,643, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʁɔ.dɐ/ [ˈhɔ.dɐ]. roxo is at rank #8,106, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈRo.ʃu/.

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 11749, this pair ranks #61,040 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of roda vs roxo

Shared letters: or. Private to "roda": ad. Private to "roxo": x.

"roda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "roxo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rodaorda · rdoa · rodda · rroda
  • roxoorxo · roox · roxxo · rroxo · rxoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roda" and "roxo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "roda" is a noun and "roxo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "roda" vs "roxo" - which ranks higher?
"roda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,643 in our Portuguese list, against #8,106 for "roxo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "roda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roxo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,040 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "roda" and "roxo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "robe vs roxo". 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 #61,040 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