coñacvscontóWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: coñac is a noun, contó is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“coñac” is a noun and “contó” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,829
“coñac” frequency rank
#2,598
“contó” frequency rank
44427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coñac contó
Definition Bebida alcohólica de alta graduación fabricada por la destilación de vinos flojos y envejecida en barriles de roble. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contar.

Where the eye mixes coñac and contó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. coñac (CVCVC) and contó (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
coñac
5 ch
contó

Why the eye confuses coñac with contó

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coñac is [koˈɲak] while contó is [kõn̪ˈt̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coñac is recorded at frequency rank #41,829, classified as anoun, pronounced [koˈɲak]. contó is at rank #2,598, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪o].

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 44427, this pair ranks #137,117 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coñac vs contó

Shared letters: co. Private to "coñac": añ. Private to "contó": ntó.

"coñac" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "contó" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coñac" and "contó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coñac" is a noun and "contó" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "coñac" or "contó"?
"contó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,598 in our Spanish list, against #41,829 for "coñac". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coñac" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,117 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coñac" and "contó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coñac vs Cova". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #137,117 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