agudovsayudeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: agudo is a adjective, ayude is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“agudo” is an adjective and “ayude” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,085
“agudo” frequency rank
#4,767
“ayude” frequency rank
16852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agudo ayude
Definition Que tiene punta, filo, corte, etcétera; sumamente fino y adelgazado, especialmente hablando de armas blancas, de instrumentos, etc. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de ayudar o de ayudarse.

Where the eye mixes agudo and ayude

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
agudo
5 ch
ayude

Why the eye confuses agudo with ayude

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agudo is [aˈɣ̞uð̞o] while ayude is [aˈʝuð̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16852, 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]. ayude is at rank #4,767, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈʝuð̞e].

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 16852, this pair ranks #274,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of agudo vs ayude

Shared letters: adu. Private to "agudo": go. Private to "ayude": ey.

"agudo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "ayude" · 5 letters · shape VVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agudoagduo · aggudo · aguddo · aguod · augdo · gaudo
  • ayudeauyde · aydue · ayudde · ayued · ayyude · yaude

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "agudo" and "ayude" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "agudo" is an adjective and "ayude" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "agudo" vs "ayude" - which ranks higher?
"ayude" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,767 in our Spanish list, against #12,085 for "agudo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "agudo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ayude" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agudo" and "ayude" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acudí vs agudo". 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 #274,518 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