chatovschotaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: chato is a adjective, chota is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chato” is an adjective and “chota” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,282
“chato” frequency rank
#16,038
“chota” frequency rank
44320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chato chota
Definition Que tiene la nariz plana, aplastada, no prominente. Pene.

Where the eye mixes chato and chota

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chato and chota follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
chato
5 ch
chota

Look-alike desk: chato vs chota

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chato is [ˈt͡ʃat̪o] while chota is [ˈt͡ʃot̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chato is recorded at frequency rank #28,282, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃat̪o]. chota is at rank #16,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃot̪a].

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 44320, this pair ranks #137,724 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chato vs chota

Shared letters: achot. Private to "chato": -. Private to "chota": -.

"chato" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "chota" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chato ← cahto · cchato · chaot · chatto · chhato · chtao · hcato
  • chota ← cchota · chhota · choat · chotta · chtoa · cohta · hcota

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chato" and "chota" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chato" is an adjective and "chota" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "chato" or "chota" show up more?
"chota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,038 in our Spanish list, against #28,282 for "chato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,724 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chato" and "chota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chasco vs chato". 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 #137,724 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