amavsamoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,328
“ama” frequency rank
#1,233
“amo” frequency rank
3561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ama amo
Definition Mujer casada responsable del hogar. Hombre que está a la cabeza o a cargo de algo, especialmente de una casa, hacienda. animal o familia.

Where the eye mixes ama and amo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ama
3 ch
amo

Visual trap between ama and amo

A purely visual mix-up. ama ([ˈama]) and amo ([ˈamo]) 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 a single letter - a in “ama” becomes o in “amo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ama is recorded at frequency rank #2,328, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈama]. amo is at rank #1,233, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈamo].

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 3561, this pair ranks #318,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ama vs amo

Shared letters: am. Private to "ama": -. Private to "amo": o.

"ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "amo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ama" and "amo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈama] versus [ˈamo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ama" vs "amo" - which ranks higher?
"amo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,233 in our Spanish list, against #2,328 for "ama". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,047 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ama" and "amo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ama vs anta". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #318,047 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