rosvsroxoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,024
“ros” frequency rank
#8,106
“roxo” frequency rank
42130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ros roxo
Definition louro que tem uma cor que resulta da junção do encarnado com o azul

Where the eye mixes ros and roxo

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

3 ch
ros
4 ch
roxo

Look-alike desk: ros vs roxo

A purely visual mix-up. ros (/ros/) and roxo (/ˈRo.ʃu/) 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 42130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ros is recorded at frequency rank #34,024, classified as anadj, pronounced /ros/. 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 42130, this pair ranks #23,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ros vs roxo

Shared letters: or. Private to "ros": s. Private to "roxo": x.

"ros" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "roxo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roxoorxo · roox · roxxo · rroxo · rxoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ros" and "roxo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ros/ versus /ˈRo.ʃu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ros" or "roxo" show up more?
"roxo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,106 in our Portuguese list, against #34,024 for "ros". 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 "ros" and "roxo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ros" 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 #23,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ros" and "roxo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ros 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 #23,694 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