Which to use
“castigan” is a verb and “castigo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,800
- “castigan” frequency rank
- #3,463
- “castigo” frequency rank
- 34263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | castigan | castigo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de castigar o de castigarse. | Pena impuesta a una persona por cometer una falta o delito. |
Where the eye mixes castigan and castigo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. castigan runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against castigo's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses castigan with castigo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: castigan is [kasˈt̪iɣ̞ãn] while castigo is [kasˈt̪iɣ̞o]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
castigan is recorded at frequency rank #30,800, classified as averb, pronounced [kasˈt̪iɣ̞ãn]. castigo is at rank #3,463, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kasˈt̪iɣ̞o].
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 34263, this pair ranks #192,389 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of castigan vs castigo
Shared letters: acgist. Private to "castigan": n. Private to "castigo": o.
"castigan" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "castigo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "castigan" and "castigo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "castigan" vs "castigo" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "castigan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "castigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,389 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "castigan" and "castigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "castigan vs castigará". 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 #192,389 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.