rulevsrumaConfusable pair

Quick tell: rule is a verb, ruma is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rule” is a verb and “ruma” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,780
“rule” frequency rank
#44,577
“ruma” frequency rank
69357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rule ruma
Definition ditar regras, fazer regras expressa comandamento por parte de boiadeiro para guiamento de bois

Letter map: rule vs ruma

Shared letters muted; letters that set rule and ruma apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
rule
4 ch
ruma

Part-of-speech tell for rule / ruma

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rule is averb and rumaanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rule is recorded at frequency rank #24,780, classified as averb. ruma is at rank #44,577, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈxu.mɐ/.

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 69357, this pair ranks #3,965 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rule vs ruma

Shared letters: ru. Private to "rule": el. Private to "ruma": am.

"rule" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ruma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rulerlue · rrule · ruel · rulle · urle
  • rumarmua · rruma · ruam · rumma · urma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rule" for "ruma" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rule" is a verb and "ruma" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rule" or "ruma" show up more?
"rule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,780 in our Portuguese list, against #44,577 for "ruma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "rule" vs "ruma" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ruma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,965 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rule" and "ruma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rimar 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 #3,965 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