yo

[ˈʝo]

/[ˈʝo]/ pron

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

The verdict

“yo” is in the everyday core of Spanish, ranked #38 in Spanish word frequency and used as a pronoun.

#38
frequency rank, Spanish
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Úsase para designar al hablante o enunciador como sujeto de la frase.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

yo vs yu
50% similar
yo vs you
67% similar
yo vs yun
33% similar

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

Key facts for yo
PropertyValue
Headwordyo
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[ˈʝo]
Letters2
Frequency rank#38
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “yo” 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). yo 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 yo is 2 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈʝo]. Corpus data places it at rank #38 in overall Spanish word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Úsase para designar al hablante o enunciador como sujeto de la frase.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for yo in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "yu", "you", "yun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is yo, spelled Y-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Úsase para designar al hablante o enunciador como sujeto de la frase.

This word in other languages

I(English)je(Français)ich(Deutsch)eu(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 "yo"?
"yo" is spelled Y-O. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʝo].
What does "yo" mean?
As a pronoun, "yo" means: Úsase para designar al hablante o enunciador como sujeto de la frase.
What words are commonly confused with "yo"?
"yo" is commonly confused with "yu", "you", "yun". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "yo"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "yo" is [ˈʝo]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "yo" come from?
"yo" 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 “yo”

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

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is Y-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ˈʝo] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “yu” - see the side-by-side comparison. yo vs yu
  • 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