amisvsanísWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: amis is a verb, anís is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“amis” is a verb and “anís” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,733
“amis” frequency rank
#32,962
“anís” frequency rank
74695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amis anís
Definition Pasado de ami. (Pimpinella anisum) Planta herbácea de la familia de las umbelíferas. Forma matas densas de medio metro de altura. Produce en temporada diminutas flores pentámeras de color blanco. Su fruto es seco, ricamente aromático por su elevado contenido en anetol, y se utiliza como especia en panadería y repostería.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set amis and anís apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
amis
4 ch
anís

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amis is /ˈa.mis/ while anís is [aˈnis]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amis is recorded at frequency rank #41,733, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈa.mis/. anís is at rank #32,962, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈnis].

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 74695, this pair ranks #20,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of amis vs anís

Shared letters: as. Private to "amis": im. Private to "anís": .

"amis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "anís" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amisaims · amiss · ammis · amsi

Frequency comparison

amis#41,733
anís#32,962

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "amis" and "anís" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "amis" is a verb and "anís" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "amis" or "anís"?
"anís" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,962 in our Spanish list, against #41,733 for "amis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering amis vs anís

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “amis”; for a noun, it's “anís”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “amis” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list