condovscondomWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“condo” and “condom” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,392
“condo” frequency rank
#12,947
“condom” frequency rank
25339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature condo condom
Definition Clipping of condominium. A flexible sleeve made of latex or other impermeable material such as polyurethane or sheepskin, worn over an erect penis during sexual intercourse as a contraceptive or as a way to prevent the spread of STIs during PIV, anal, or oral.

Where the eye mixes condo and condom

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
condo
6 ch
condom

Visual trap between condo and condom

A purely visual mix-up. condo (/ˈkɑndoʊ/) and condom (/ˈkɒn.dɒm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “condo” sits inside “condom”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

condo is recorded at frequency rank #12,392, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑndoʊ/. condom is at rank #12,947, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒn.dɒm/.

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 25339, this pair ranks #395,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of condo vs condom

Shared letters: cdno. Private to "condo": -. Private to "condom": m.

"condo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "condom" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • condoccondo · cnodo · codno · conddo · conndo · conod · ocndo
  • condomccondom · cnodom · codnom · conddom · condmo · condomm · conndom · conodm

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "condo" and "condom" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɑndoʊ/ versus /ˈkɒn.dɒm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "condo" vs "condom" - which ranks higher?
"condo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,392 in our English list, against #12,947 for "condom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "condo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "condom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #395,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "condo" and "condom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condo vs Cyndi". 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 #395,044 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list