año

[ˈaɲo]

/[ˈaɲo]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“año” is in the everyday core of Spanish, ranked #100 in Spanish word frequency and used as a noun.

#100
frequency rank, Spanish
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Intervalo de tiempo que tarda la Tierra en hacer una revolución alrededor del Sol. El año se compone de 365 días y cuarto aproximadamente. Por eso cada cuatro años el año civil tiene un día más.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

año vs ay
33% similar
año vs as
33% similar
año vs at
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for año
PropertyValue
Headwordaño
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈaɲo]
Letters3
Frequency rank#100
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “año” sits in Spanish frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). año lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Spanish entry for año is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈaɲo]. Corpus data places it at rank #100 in overall Spanish word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for año, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ay", "as", "at", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is año, spelled A-Ñ-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Intervalo de tiempo que tarda la Tierra en hacer una revolución alrededor del Sol. El año se compone de 365 días y cuarto aproximadamente. Por eso cada cuatro años el año civil tiene un día más.
  2. 2
    Intervalo de tiempo que tarda cada planeta en hacer una revolución alrededor de otro cuerpo.
  3. 3
    Periodo entre fechas que determinan un año según el calendario gregoriano, del 1 de enero hasta el 31 de diciembre.
  4. 4
    Parte fijada de un año civil que se gasta en una actividad específica.
  5. 5
    Año Juliano, exactamente 365,25 días.
  6. 6
    Un grado en la escuela o el instituto.
  7. 7
    Período de doce meses contando de desde una fecha cualquiera.

Synonyms

año astronómicoaño solaraño astronómicoaño civilaño naturalaño políticoaño lectivo

This word in other languages

year(English)an(Français)Jahr(Deutsch)ano(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "año"?
"año" is spelled A-Ñ-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaɲo].
What does "año" mean?
As a noun, "año" means: Intervalo de tiempo que tarda la Tierra en hacer una revolución alrededor del Sol. El año se compone de 365 días y cuarto aproximadamente. Por eso cada cuatro años el año civil tiene un día más.
What words are commonly confused with "año"?
"año" is commonly confused with "ay", "as", "at". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "año"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "año" is [ˈaɲo]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "año" come from?
"año" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “año”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is A-Ñ-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ˈaɲo] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “ay” - see the side-by-side comparison. año vs ay
  • Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list