cincvscisneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,815
“cinc” frequency rank
#19,954
“cisne” frequency rank
65769
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cinc cisne
Definition Grafía alternativa de zinc. Ave palmípeda, con un característico cuello largo. Género Cygnus

Where the eye mixes cinc and cisne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cinc runs 4 letters (CVCC) against cisne's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
cinc
5 ch
cisne

Why the eye confuses cinc with cisne

A purely visual mix-up. cinc ([ˈsĩŋk]) and cisne ([ˈsisne]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cinc is recorded at frequency rank #45,815, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsĩŋk]. cisne is at rank #19,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsisne].

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 65769, this pair ranks #41,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cinc vs cisne

Shared letters: cin. Private to "cinc": -. Private to "cisne": es.

"cinc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cisne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cinc ← ccinc · cicn · cincc · cinnc · cnic · icnc · sinc
  • cisne ← ccisne · cinse · cisen · cisnne · cissne · csine · icsne · sisne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cinc" for "cisne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsĩŋk] versus [ˈsisne]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cinc" vs "cisne" - which ranks higher?
"cisne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,954 in our Spanish list, against #45,815 for "cinc". 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 "cinc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cisne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cinc" and "cisne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cinc 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 #41,659 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