curvovscuyoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,495
“curvo” frequency rank
#1,240
“cuyo” frequency rank
44735
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature curvo cuyo
Definition Que se dobla o se aleja gradualmente de la línea o dirección recta sin formar ángulos. Caso de genitivo del pronombre relativo, equivalente a de quien, de que o del cual.

Where the eye mixes curvo and cuyo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
curvo
4 ch
cuyo

Visual trap between curvo and cuyo

A purely visual mix-up. curvo ([ˈkuɾβ̞o]) and cuyo ([ˈkuʝo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

curvo is recorded at frequency rank #43,495, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkuɾβ̞o]. cuyo is at rank #1,240, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkuʝo].

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 44735, this pair ranks #135,411 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of curvo vs cuyo

Shared letters: cou. Private to "curvo": rv. Private to "cuyo": y.

"curvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cuyo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • curvoccurvo · cruvo · curbo · curov · currvo · curvvo · cuvro · ucrvo
  • cuyoccuyo · cuoy · cuyyo · cyuo · ucyo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "curvo" for "cuyo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkuɾβ̞o] versus [ˈkuʝo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "curvo" or "cuyo" show up more?
"cuyo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,240 in our Spanish list, against #43,495 for "curvo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "curvo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuyo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,411 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "curvo" and "cuyo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "curt vs curvo". 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 #135,411 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