cultvscuñaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,924
“cult” frequency rank
#24,091
“cuña” frequency rank
73015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cult cuña
Definition Culto. Pequeña pieza de madera o metal, con un borde más delgado, que se introduce entre otras dos piezas para ajustarlas, ensamblarlas, partirlas, separarlas o apretarlas.

Where the eye mixes cult and cuña

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cult (CVCC) and cuña (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
cult
4 ch
cuña

Look-alike desk: cult vs cuña

A purely visual mix-up. cult (/kʌlt/) and cuña ([ˈkuɲa]) 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 73015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cult is recorded at frequency rank #48,924, classified as anoun, pronounced /kʌlt/. cuña is at rank #24,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkuɲa].

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 73015, this pair ranks #24,177 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cult vs cuña

Shared letters: cu. Private to "cult": lt. Private to "cuña": añ.

"cult" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cuña" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cult ← ccult · clut · cullt · cultt · cutl · uclt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cult" for "cuña" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kʌlt/ versus [ˈkuɲa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cult" or "cuña"?
"cuña" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,091 in our Spanish list, against #48,924 for "cult". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cult" and "cuña" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cult" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuña" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,177 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cult" and "cuña" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuc vs cult". 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 #24,177 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