castillovscastillosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,237
“castillo” frequency rank
#13,862
“castillos” frequency rank
16099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature castillo castillos
Definition Recinto fortificado, típico de la arquitectura militar del Medioevo, en especial el dotado de murallas y torres para su defensa Forma del plural de castillo.

Where the eye mixes castillo and castillos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. castillo runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against castillos's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
castillo
9 ch
castillos

Look-alike desk: castillo vs castillos

A purely visual mix-up. castillo ([kasˈt̪iʝo]) and castillos ([kasˈt̪iʝos]) 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 extra letter(s) - “castillo” sits inside “castillos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

castillo is recorded at frequency rank #2,237, classified as anoun, pronounced [kasˈt̪iʝo]. castillos is at rank #13,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kasˈt̪iʝos].

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 16099, this pair ranks #277,503 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of castillo vs castillos

Shared letters: acilost. Private to "castillo": -. Private to "castillos": -.

"castillo" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "castillos" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • castillo ← acstillo · casitllo · casstillo · castilo · castilol · castlilo · casttillo · catsillo
  • castillos ← acstillos · casitllos · casstillos · castilloss · castillso · castilols · castilos · castlilos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "castillo" and "castillos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kasˈt̪iʝo] versus [kasˈt̪iʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "castillo" vs "castillos" - which ranks higher?
"castillo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,237 in our Spanish list, against #13,862 for "castillos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "castillo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "castillos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,503 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "castillo" and "castillos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casquillos vs castillos". 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 #277,503 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