aviónvsavisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,757
“avión” frequency rank
#46,353
“avis” frequency rank
48110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature avión avis
Definition (Delichon spp., Riparia spp., Hirundo spp.) Ave insectívora de la familia Hirundinidae de cuerpo fusiforme y alas largas, cola ahorquillada y pico corto. Opinión.

Where the eye mixes avión and avis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. avión runs 5 letters (VCVVC) against avis's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
avión
4 ch
avis

Why the eye confuses avión with avis

A purely visual mix-up. avión ([aˈβ̞jõn]) and avis ([a.vi]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

avión is recorded at frequency rank #1,757, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈβ̞jõn]. avis is at rank #46,353, tagged as anoun, pronounced [a.vi].

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 48110, this pair ranks #116,282 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of avión vs avis

Shared letters: aiv. Private to "avión": nó. Private to "avis": s.

"avión" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "avis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avis ← abis · aivs · aviss · avsi · avvis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "avión" and "avis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈβ̞jõn] versus [a.vi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "avión" or "avis"?
"avión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,757 in our Spanish list, against #46,353 for "avis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "avión" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,282 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "avión" and "avis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs avis". 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 #116,282 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