cornovscortoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: corno is a noun, corto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#34,966
“corno” frequency rank
#1,567
“corto” frequency rank
36533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corno corto
Definition Cornejo. Pequeño, especialmente en cuanto a la longitud, duración o extensión, pero también en cuanto a otra dimensión en comparación con otros de su clase o género.

Where the eye mixes corno and corto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. corno and corto follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
corno
5 ch
corto

Look-alike desk: corno vs corto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: corno is [ˈkoɾno] while corto is [ˈkoɾt̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “corno” becomes t in “corto”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corno is recorded at frequency rank #34,966, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoɾno]. corto is at rank #1,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkoɾt̪o].

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 36533, this pair ranks #180,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corno vs corto

Shared letters: cor. Private to "corno": n. Private to "corto": t.

"corno" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "corto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cornoccorno · conro · cornno · coron · corrno · crono · ocrno
  • cortoccorto · corot · corrto · cortto · cotro · croto · ocrto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "corno" for "corto" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "corno" is a noun and "corto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "corno" or "corto"?
"corto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,567 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "corno" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,139 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corno" and "corto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corno vs count". 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 #180,139 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