celosvsceoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,964
“celos” frequency rank
#11,189
“ceo” frequency rank
19153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature celos ceo
Definition Recelo de que la persona amada haya mudado o mude su cariño. (Zeus faber) Pez comestible de aguas profundas con un cuerpo comprimido lateralmente de color oliva-amarillo que tiene una gran mancha oscura ribeteada de color amarillo en su costado y grandes espinas en la aleta dorsal.

Where the eye mixes celos and ceo

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

5 ch
celos
3 ch
ceo

Visual trap between celos and ceo

A purely visual mix-up. celos ([ˈselos]) and ceo ([ˈseo]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

celos is recorded at frequency rank #7,964, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈselos]. ceo is at rank #11,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈseo].

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 19153, this pair ranks #264,954 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of celos vs ceo

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "celos": ls. Private to "ceo": -.

"celos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ceo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • celosccelos · cellos · celoss · ceols · cleos · eclos · selos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "celos" for "ceo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈselos] versus [ˈseo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "celos" or "ceo" show up more?
"celos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,964 in our Spanish list, against #11,189 for "ceo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "celos" and "ceo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "celos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ceo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #264,954 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "celos" and "ceo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceo vs cuc". 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 #264,954 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