Which to use
“ahogo” is a noun and “amigo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,465
- “ahogo” frequency rank
- #359
- “amigo” frequency rank
- 29824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ahogo | amigo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sensación de falta de aire para respirar. | Que da o recibe un afecto desinteresado (amistad), especialmente si no se basa en lazos de parentesco. |
Where the eye mixes ahogo and amigo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ahogo and amigo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ahogo vs amigo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ahogo is [aˈoɣ̞o] while amigo is [aˈmiɣ̞o]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ahogo is recorded at frequency rank #29,465, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈoɣ̞o]. amigo is at rank #359, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aˈmiɣ̞o].
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 29824, this pair ranks #215,093 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ahogo vs amigo
Shared letters: ago. Private to "ahogo": h. Private to "amigo": im.
"ahogo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "amigo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ahogo" and "amigo" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ahogo" or "amigo" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ahogo" and "amigo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ahogo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "amigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,093 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ahogo" and "amigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahogan vs ahogo". 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 #215,093 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.