rotavsruaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rota is a noun, rua is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rota” is a noun and “rua” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,167
“rota” frequency rank
#420
“rua” frequency rank
3587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rota rua
Definition itinerário que se percorre para ir de um lugar para outro; caminho; direção; rumo fora!, gire! - ordem enérgica para deixar o recinto onde se está

Where the eye mixes rota and rua

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

4 ch
rota
3 ch
rua

Visual trap between rota and rua

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rota is /ˈRɔ.tɐ/ while rua is /ˈRuɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rota is recorded at frequency rank #3,167, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRɔ.tɐ/. rua is at rank #420, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈRuɐ/.

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 3587, this pair ranks #71,530 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rota vs rua

Shared letters: ar. Private to "rota": ot. Private to "rua": u.

"rota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rotaorta · roat · rotta · rrota · rtoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rota" and "rua" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rota" is a noun and "rua" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rota" or "rua" show up more?
"rua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #420 in our Portuguese list, against #3,167 for "rota". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rota" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,530 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rota" and "rua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rota 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 #71,530 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