contóvscornoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,598
“contó” frequency rank
#34,966
“corno” frequency rank
37564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contó corno
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contar. Cornejo.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contó and corno apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
contó
5 ch
corno

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contó is [kõn̪ˈt̪o] while corno is [ˈkoɾno]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contó is recorded at frequency rank #2,598, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪o]. corno is at rank #34,966, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoɾno].

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 37564, this pair ranks #174,647 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contó vs corno

Shared letters: cno. Private to "contó": . Private to "corno": r.

"contó" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "corno" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cornoccorno · conro · cornno · coron · corrno · crono · ocrno

Frequency comparison

contó#2,598
corno#34,966

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contó" and "corno" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contó" is a verb and "corno" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contó" or "corno"?
"contó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,598 in our Spanish list, against #34,966 for "corno". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering contó vs corno

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “contó”; for a noun, it's “corno”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “contó” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list