añovsAntónWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: año is a noun, Antón is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“año” is a noun and “Antón” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#100
“año” frequency rank
#19,026
“Antón” frequency rank
19126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature año Antón
Definition Intervalo de tiempo que tarda la Tierra en hacer una revolución alrededor del Sol. El año se compone de 365 días y cuarto aproximadamente. Por eso cada cuatro años el año civil tiene un día más. Apellido.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set año and Antón apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
año
5 ch
Antón

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: año is [ˈaɲo] while Antón is [ãn̪ˈt̪õn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

año is recorded at frequency rank #100, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɲo]. Antón is at rank #19,026, tagged as aname, pronounced [ãn̪ˈt̪õn].

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 19126, this pair ranks #265,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of año vs Antón

Shared letters: a. Private to "año": . Private to "Antón": ntó.

"año" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Antón" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequency comparison

año#100
Antón#19,026

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "año" and "Antón" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "año" is a noun and "Antón" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "año" or "Antón"?
"año" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #100 in our Spanish list, against #19,026 for "Antón". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering año vs Antón

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “año”; for a name, it's “Antón”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “año” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list