corderovscortejoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,408
“cordero” frequency rank
#19,677
“cortejo” frequency rank
27085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cordero cortejo
Definition Cría de la oveja, de hasta un año, antes de ser borrego. Ritual por el que el macho trata de conseguir el favor sexual de una hembra.

Where the eye mixes cordero and cortejo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cordero and cortejo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
cordero
7 ch
cortejo

Visual trap between cordero and cortejo

A purely visual mix-up. cordero ([koɾˈð̞eɾo]) and cortejo ([koɾˈt̪exo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cordero is recorded at frequency rank #7,408, classified as anoun, pronounced [koɾˈð̞eɾo]. cortejo is at rank #19,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [koɾˈt̪exo].

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 27085, this pair ranks #228,521 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cordero vs cortejo

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "cordero": d. Private to "cortejo": jt.

"cordero" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "cortejo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cordero ← ccordero · codrero · corddero · cordeor · corderro · cordreo · coredro · corrdero
  • cortejo ← ccortejo · coretjo · corrtejo · cortejjo · corteoj · cortjeo · corttejo · cotrejo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cordero" for "cortejo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([koɾˈð̞eɾo] versus [koɾˈt̪exo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cordero" or "cortejo" show up more?
"cordero" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,408 in our Spanish list, against #19,677 for "cortejo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cordero" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cortejo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,521 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cordero" and "cortejo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corrijo vs cortejo". 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 #228,521 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