contamosvscontemosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,997
“contamos” frequency rank
#48,910
“contemos” frequency rank
55907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contamos contemos
Definition Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de indicativo de contar. Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de subjuntivo de contar.

Where the eye mixes contamos and contemos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contamos and contemos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
contamos
8 ch
contemos

Visual trap between contamos and contemos

A purely visual mix-up. contamos ([kõn̪ˈt̪amos]) and contemos ([kõn̪ˈt̪emos]) 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 a single letter - a in “contamos” becomes e in “contemos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contamos is recorded at frequency rank #6,997, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪amos]. contemos is at rank #48,910, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪emos].

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 55907, this pair ranks #76,830 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contamos vs contemos

Shared letters: cmnost. Private to "contamos": a. Private to "contemos": e.

"contamos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "contemos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contamos ← ccontamos · cnotamos · conatmos · conntamos · contammos · contamoss · contamso · contaoms
  • contemos ← ccontemos · cnotemos · conetmos · conntemos · contemmos · contemoss · contemso · conteoms

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contamos" for "contemos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪ˈt̪amos] versus [kõn̪ˈt̪emos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contamos" or "contemos"?
"contamos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,997 in our Spanish list, against #48,910 for "contemos". 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 "contamos" and "contemos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contamos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contemos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,830 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contamos" and "contemos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confiemos vs contemos". 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 #76,830 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