centavovscontuvoTell them apart

Quick tell: centavo is a adjective, contuvo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“centavo” is an adjective and “contuvo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,040
“centavo” frequency rank
#43,482
“contuvo” frequency rank
58522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature centavo contuvo
Definition Centésima parte de un todo. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contener o de contenerse.

Where the eye mixes centavo and contuvo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. centavo and contuvo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
centavo
7 ch
contuvo

Look-alike desk: centavo vs contuvo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centavo is [sẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞o] while contuvo is [kõn̪ˈt̪uβ̞o]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

centavo is recorded at frequency rank #15,040, classified as anadj, pronounced [sẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞o]. contuvo is at rank #43,482, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪uβ̞o].

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 58522, this pair ranks #66,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of centavo vs contuvo

Shared letters: cnotv. Private to "centavo": ae. Private to "contuvo": u.

"centavo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contuvo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • centavoccentavo · cenatvo · cenntavo · centabo · centaov · centavvo · centtavo · centvao
  • contuvoccontuvo · cnotuvo · conntuvo · conttuvo · contubo · contuov · contuvvo · contvuo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "centavo" and "contuvo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "centavo" is an adjective and "contuvo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "centavo" vs "contuvo" - which ranks higher?
"centavo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,040 in our Spanish list, against #43,482 for "contuvo". 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 "centavo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contuvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "centavo" and "contuvo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conjuro vs contuvo". 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 #66,155 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