Which to use
“rue” is a noun and “ruir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,200
- “rue” frequency rank
- #34,026
- “ruir” frequency rank
- 49226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rue | ruir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rua: | desmoronar, desabar |
Where the eye mixes rue and ruir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. rue runs 3 letters (CVV) against ruir's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between rue and ruir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rue is /ʁy/ while ruir is /ˈRwiɾ/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rue is recorded at frequency rank #15,200, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʁy/. ruir is at rank #34,026, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈRwiɾ/.
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 49226, this pair ranks #15,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rue vs ruir
Shared letters: ru. Private to "rue": e. Private to "ruir": i.
"rue" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ruir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ruir ← riur · rruir · ruirr · ruri · urir
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rue" for "ruir" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rue" or "ruir" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ruir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rue" and "ruir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ruir 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 #15,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.