cortevscortosWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#803
“corte” frequency rank
#4,876
“cortos” frequency rank
5679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corte cortos
Definition Acción de cortar o de cortarse. Forma del plural de corto.

Where the eye mixes corte and cortos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
corte
6 ch
cortos

Visual trap between corte and cortos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: corte is [ˈkoɾt̪e] while cortos is [ˈkoɾt̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corte is recorded at frequency rank #803, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkoɾt̪e]. cortos is at rank #4,876, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkoɾt̪os].

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 5679, this pair ranks #312,968 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of corte vs cortos

Shared letters: cort. Private to "corte": e. Private to "cortos": s.

"corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cortos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cortte · cotre · crote · ocrte
  • cortosccortos · corots · corrtos · cortoss · cortso · corttos · cotros · crotos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corte" and "cortos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "corte" is a noun and "cortos" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "corte" or "cortos"?
"corte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #803 in our Spanish list, against #4,876 for "cortos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "corte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cortos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,968 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corte" and "cortos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corte vs curt". 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 #312,968 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