rotinavsruínaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,107
“rotina” frequency rank
#17,138
“ruína” frequency rank
20245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rotina ruína
Definition hábito um prédio ou local destruído, decaído

Where the eye mixes rotina and ruína

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

6 ch
rotina
5 ch
ruína

Visual trap between rotina and ruína

A purely visual mix-up. rotina (/Ru.ˈti.nɐ/) and ruína (/ˈʀwi.nɐ/) 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 20245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rotina is recorded at frequency rank #3,107, classified as anoun, pronounced /Ru.ˈti.nɐ/. ruína is at rank #17,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈʀwi.nɐ/.

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 20245, this pair ranks #50,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rotina vs ruína

Shared letters: anr. Private to "rotina": iot. Private to "ruína": .

"rotina" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "ruína" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rotinaortina · roitna · rotian · rotinna · rotnia · rottina · rrotina · rtoina

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rotina" and "ruína" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/Ru.ˈti.nɐ/ versus /ˈʀwi.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rotina" or "ruína"?
"rotina" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,107 in our Portuguese list, against #17,138 for "ruína". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "rotina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruína" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rotina" and "ruína" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ruína 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 #50,314 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