añosvsapsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: años is a noun, aps is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“años” is a noun and “aps” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#56
“años” frequency rank
#39,057
“aps” frequency rank
39113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature años aps
Definition Forma del plural de año Ese., esa, eso

Where the eye mixes años and aps

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

4 ch
años
3 ch
aps

Look-alike desk: años vs aps

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: años is [ˈaɲos] while aps is /aps/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

años is recorded at frequency rank #56, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɲos]. aps is at rank #39,057, tagged as apron, pronounced /aps/.

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 39113, this pair ranks #166,324 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of años vs aps

Shared letters: as. Private to "años": . Private to "aps": p.

"años" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "aps" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "años" and "aps" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "años" is a noun and "aps" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "años" or "aps" show up more?
"años" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #56 in our Spanish list, against #39,057 for "aps". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "años" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,324 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "años" and "aps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs aps". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #166,324 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