rulevsrushConfusable pair

Quick tell: rule is a verb, rush is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,780
“rule” frequency rank
#15,676
“rush” frequency rank
40456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rule rush
Definition ditar regras, fazer regras rush

Letter map: rule vs rush

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

4 ch
rule
4 ch
rush

Part-of-speech tell for rule / rush

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: rule is averb and rushanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rule is recorded at frequency rank #24,780, classified as averb. rush is at rank #15,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced /raʃ/.

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 40456, this pair ranks #25,657 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rule vs rush

Shared letters: ru. Private to "rule": el. Private to "rush": hs.

"rule" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rush" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rulerlue · rrule · ruel · rulle · urle
  • rushrrush · rsuh · ruhs · rushh · russh · ursh

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "rule" for "rush" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rule" is a verb and "rush" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "rule" or "rush" show up more?
"rush" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,676 in our Portuguese list, against #24,780 for "rule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "rule" vs "rush" 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 "rush" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,657 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rule" and "rush" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rule 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 #25,657 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