civilizaciónvscivilizacionesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,473
“civilización” frequency rank
#13,638
“civilizaciones” frequency rank
19111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature civilización civilizaciones
Definition Acción o efecto de civilizar. Forma del plural de civilización.

Where the eye mixes civilización and civilizaciones

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. civilización runs 12 letters (CVCVCVCVCVVC) against civilizaciones's 14 (CVCVCVCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
civilización
14 ch
civilizaciones

Why the eye confuses civilización with civilizaciones

A purely visual mix-up. civilización ([siβ̞ilisaˈsjõn]) and civilizaciones ([siβ̞ilisaˈsjones]) 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 19111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

civilización is recorded at frequency rank #5,473, classified as anoun, pronounced [siβ̞ilisaˈsjõn]. civilizaciones is at rank #13,638, tagged as anoun, pronounced [siβ̞ilisaˈsjones].

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 19111, this pair ranks #265,152 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of civilización vs civilizaciones

Shared letters: acilnvz. Private to "civilización": ó. Private to "civilizaciones": eos.

"civilización" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "civilizaciones" · 14 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • civilizaciones ← ccivilizaciones · cibilizaciones · ciivlizaciones · civiilzaciones · civiliazciones · civilizacciones · civilizacinoes · civilizacioens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "civilización" and "civilizaciones" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([siβ̞ilisaˈsjõn] versus [siβ̞ilisaˈsjones]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "civilización" or "civilizaciones" show up more?
"civilización" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,473 in our Spanish list, against #13,638 for "civilizaciones". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "civilización" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "civilizaciones" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,152 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #265,152 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