ruivovsrussoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,909
“ruivo” frequency rank
#1,947
“russo” frequency rank
19856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ruivo russo
Definition amarelo-avermelhado, louro-avermelhado relativo à Rússia, sua cultura e idioma

Letter map: ruivo vs russo

Shared letters muted; letters that set ruivo and russo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
ruivo
5 ch
russo

Pair insight - ruivo / russo

ruivo and russo are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ruivo is recorded at frequency rank #17,909, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈRuj.vu/. russo is at rank #1,947, tagged as anadj.

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 19856, this pair ranks #50,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ruivo vs russo

Shared letters: oru. Private to "ruivo": iv. Private to "russo": s.

"ruivo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "russo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ruivoriuvo · rruivo · ruiov · ruivvo · ruvio · urivo
  • russorrusso · rsuso · ruso · rusos · ursso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ruivo" for "russo" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "ruivo" vs "russo" - which ranks higher?
"russo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,947 in our Portuguese list, against #17,909 for "ruivo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ruivo" and "russo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ruivo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "russo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ruivo" and "russo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ruir vs ruivo". 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 #50,780 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