chinosvscochinosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,467
“chinos” frequency rank
#41,247
“cochinos” frequency rank
44714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chinos cochinos
Definition Juego de azar que consiste en intentar adivinar el número total de monedas que varios jugadores (al menos 2) guardan en su mano cerrada. Se utilizan 3 monedas por jugador y se pueden sacar 0, 1, 2 o 3 monedas. El juego se usa típicamente como fórmula de echar a suertes. Forma del plural de cochino.

Where the eye mixes chinos and cochinos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. chinos runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against cochinos's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
chinos
8 ch
cochinos

Look-alike desk: chinos vs cochinos

A purely visual mix-up. chinos ([ˈt͡ʃinos]) and cochinos ([koˈt͡ʃinos]) 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 extra letter(s) - “chinos” sits inside “cochinos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chinos is recorded at frequency rank #3,467, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃinos]. cochinos is at rank #41,247, tagged as anoun, pronounced [koˈt͡ʃinos].

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 44714, this pair ranks #135,520 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chinos vs cochinos

Shared letters: chinos. Private to "chinos": -. Private to "cochinos": -.

"chinos" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "cochinos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chinoscchinos · chhinos · chinnos · chinoss · chinso · chions · chnios · cihnos
  • cochinosccochinos · ccohinos · cocchinos · cochhinos · cochinnos · cochinoss · cochinso · cochions

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "chinos" and "cochinos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡ʃinos] versus [koˈt͡ʃinos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chinos" vs "cochinos" - which ranks higher?
"chinos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,467 in our Spanish list, against #41,247 for "cochinos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "chinos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cochinos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,520 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chinos" and "cochinos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cochinos vs cocidos". 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 #135,520 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