Which to use
“castigar” is a verb and “castigos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,417
- “castigar” frequency rank
- #14,308
- “castigos” frequency rank
- 23725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | castigar | castigos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Imponer un castigo al que ha delinquido, infringido una regla o faltado en alguna cosa. | Forma del plural de castigo. |
Where the eye mixes castigar and castigos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. castigar and castigos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses castigar with castigos
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: castigar is [kast̪iˈɣ̞aɾ] while castigos is [kasˈt̪iɣ̞os]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
castigar is recorded at frequency rank #9,417, classified as averb, pronounced [kast̪iˈɣ̞aɾ]. castigos is at rank #14,308, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kasˈt̪iɣ̞os].
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 23725, this pair ranks #244,439 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of castigar vs castigos
Shared letters: acgist. Private to "castigar": r. Private to "castigos": o.
"castigar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "castigos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "castigar" for "castigos" ever safe?
Frequency check: "castigar" vs "castigos" - which ranks higher?
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 "castigar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "castigos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,439 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "castigar" and "castigos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "castigar 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 #244,439 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.