Which to use
“ruela” and “ruína” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,201
- “ruela” frequency rank
- #17,138
- “ruína” frequency rank
- 59339
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ruela | ruína |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | diminutivo de rua; rua pequena | um prédio ou local destruído, decaído |
Where the eye mixes ruela and ruína
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ruela and ruína follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ruela and ruína
A purely visual mix-up. ruela (/ˈRwɛ.lɐ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ruela is recorded at frequency rank #42,201, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈRwɛ.lɐ/. 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 59339, this pair ranks #8,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ruela vs ruína
Shared letters: aru. Private to "ruela": el. Private to "ruína": ní.
"ruela" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "ruína" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ruela ← reula · rruela · rueal · ruella · rulea · urela
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ruela" and "ruína" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ruela" or "ruína" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ruela" and "ruína" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ruela" 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 #8,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ruela" and "ruína" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ruela 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 #8,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.