contagiovscontigoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contagio is a noun, contigo is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contagio” is a noun and “contigo” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,060
“contagio” frequency rank
#762
“contigo” frequency rank
16822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contagio contigo
Definition Acción o efecto de contagiar (transmitir un agente patógeno). Forma combinada de la preposición con y el pronombre personal de segunda persona singular ti.

Where the eye mixes contagio and contigo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. contagio runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against contigo's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
contagio
7 ch
contigo

Why the eye confuses contagio with contigo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contagio is [kõn̪ˈt̪axjo] while contigo is [kõn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contagio is recorded at frequency rank #16,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪axjo]. contigo is at rank #762, tagged as apron, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞o].

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 16822, this pair ranks #274,632 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contagio vs contigo

Shared letters: cginot. Private to "contagio": a. Private to "contigo": -.

"contagio" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "contigo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contagio ← ccontagio · cnotagio · conatgio · conntagio · contaggio · contagoi · contaigo · contgaio
  • contigo ← ccontigo · cnotigo · conitgo · conntigo · contgio · contiggo · contiog · conttigo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contagio" and "contigo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contagio" is a noun and "contigo" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "contagio" vs "contigo" - which ranks higher?
"contigo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #762 in our Spanish list, against #16,060 for "contagio". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contagio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,632 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contagio" and "contigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contagiado vs contagio". 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 #274,632 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