cansovscincoTell them apart

Quick tell: canso is a verb, cinco is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“canso” is a verb and “cinco” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,245
“canso” frequency rank
#396
“cinco” frequency rank
21641
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canso cinco
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de cansar o de cansarse. Cuatro y uno.

Where the eye mixes canso and cinco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
canso
5 ch
cinco

Why the eye confuses canso with cinco

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: canso is [ˈkãnso] while cinco is [ˈsĩŋko]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21641, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canso is recorded at frequency rank #21,245, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkãnso]. cinco is at rank #396, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈsĩŋko].

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 21641, this pair ranks #253,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of canso vs cinco

Shared letters: cno. Private to "canso": as. Private to "cinco": i.

"canso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cinco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cansoacnso · cannso · canos · cansso · casno · ccanso · cnaso
  • cincoccinco · cicno · cincco · cinnco · cinoc · cnico · icnco · sinco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "canso" and "cinco" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "canso" is a verb and "cinco" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "canso" or "cinco" show up more?
"cinco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #396 in our Spanish list, against #21,245 for "canso". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "canso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cinco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canso" and "cinco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canso vs cats". 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 #253,999 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