agudovsálgidoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“agudo” and “álgido” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,085
“agudo” frequency rank
#35,835
“álgido” frequency rank
47920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agudo álgido
Definition Que tiene punta, filo, corte, etcétera; sumamente fino y adelgazado, especialmente hablando de armas blancas, de instrumentos, etc. De una temperatura muy inferior a la normal o deseable; extremadamente frío.

Where the eye mixes agudo and álgido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. agudo runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against álgido's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
agudo
6 ch
álgido

Why the eye confuses agudo with álgido

A purely visual mix-up. agudo ([aˈɣ̞uð̞o]) and álgido ([ˈalxið̞o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agudo is recorded at frequency rank #12,085, classified as anadj, pronounced [aˈɣ̞uð̞o]. álgido is at rank #35,835, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈalxið̞o].

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 47920, this pair ranks #117,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agudo vs álgido

Shared letters: dgo. Private to "agudo": au. Private to "álgido": ilá.

"agudo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "álgido" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agudo ← agduo · aggudo · aguddo · aguod · augdo · gaudo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agudo" and "álgido" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈɣ̞uð̞o] versus [ˈalxið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "agudo" vs "álgido" - which ranks higher?
"agudo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,085 in our Spanish list, against #35,835 for "álgido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "agudo" and "álgido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "agudo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "álgido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agudo" and "álgido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "álgido vs alió". 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 #117,341 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list