contóvscultoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contó is a verb, culto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,598
“contó” frequency rank
#3,769
“culto” frequency rank
6367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contó culto
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contar. Que tiene instrucción o cultura. Que ha leído y conoce información a fondo sobre muchos temas.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contó and culto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
contó
5 ch
culto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contó is [kõn̪ˈt̪o] while culto is [ˈkul̪t̪o]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6367, 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]. culto is at rank #3,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkul̪t̪o].

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 6367, this pair ranks #310,979 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contó vs culto

Shared letters: cot. Private to "contó": . Private to "culto": lu.

"contó" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "culto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cultocculto · cluto · cullto · culot · cultto · cutlo · uclto

Frequency comparison

contó#2,598
culto#3,769

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contó" and "culto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contó" is a verb and "culto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contó" or "culto"?
"contó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,598 in our Spanish list, against #3,769 for "culto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering contó vs culto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “contó”; for an adjective, it's “culto”.
  • 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