colmillosvscomillasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,562
“colmillos” frequency rank
#18,770
“comillas” frequency rank
44332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colmillos comillas
Definition Forma del plural de colmillo. Par de signos de puntuación usados para delimitar un texto citado textualmente o para dar carácter especial.

Where the eye mixes colmillos and comillas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
colmillos
8 ch
comillas

Why the eye confuses colmillos with comillas

A purely visual mix-up. colmillos ([kolˈmiʝos]) and comillas ([koˈmiʝas]) 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 44332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colmillos is recorded at frequency rank #25,562, classified as anoun, pronounced [kolˈmiʝos]. comillas is at rank #18,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced [koˈmiʝas].

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 44332, this pair ranks #137,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of colmillos vs comillas

Shared letters: cilmos. Private to "colmillos": -. Private to "comillas": a.

"colmillos" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "comillas" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colmillosccolmillos · clomillos · colimllos · collmillos · colmilloss · colmillso · colmilols · colmilos
  • comillasccomillas · cmoillas · coimllas · comilals · comilas · comillass · comillsa · comlilas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "colmillos" and "comillas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kolˈmiʝos] versus [koˈmiʝas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "colmillos" or "comillas"?
"comillas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,770 in our Spanish list, against #25,562 for "colmillos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "colmillos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comillas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colmillos" and "comillas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colillas vs colmillos". 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 #137,657 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