dócilvsdócilesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,006
“dócil” frequency rank
#48,967
“dóciles” frequency rank
83973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dócil dóciles
Definition Suave, blando. Forma del plural de dócil.

Where the eye mixes dócil and dóciles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dócil runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against dóciles's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
dócil
7 ch
dóciles

Visual trap between dócil and dóciles

A purely visual mix-up. dócil ([ˈd̪osil]) and dóciles ([ˈd̪osiles]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “dócil” sits inside “dóciles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dócil is recorded at frequency rank #35,006, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈd̪osil]. dóciles is at rank #48,967, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈd̪osiles].

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 83973, this pair ranks #7,536 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dócil vs dóciles

Shared letters: cdiló. Private to "dócil": -. Private to "dóciles": es.

"dócil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dóciles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dócil" and "dóciles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪osil] versus [ˈd̪osiles]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dócil" or "dóciles" show up more?
"dócil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,006 in our Spanish list, against #48,967 for "dóciles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "dócil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dóciles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,536 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dócil" and "dóciles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dátiles vs dóciles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,536 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