estañovsestiloWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,629
“estaño” frequency rank
#742
“estilo” frequency rank
26371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estaño estilo
Definition Elemento químico metálico, cuyo número atómico es el 50 y que está situado en el grupo 14 de la tabla periódica de los elementos, con el símbolo Sn. Modo de comportarse típico de una época, grupo, cultura o persona, en especial en cuanto hace a los asuntos artísticos o estéticos.

Where the eye mixes estaño and estilo

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

6 ch
estaño
6 ch
estilo

Look-alike desk: estaño vs estilo

A purely visual mix-up. estaño ([esˈt̪aɲo]) and estilo ([esˈt̪ilo]) 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 26371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estaño is recorded at frequency rank #25,629, classified as anoun, pronounced [esˈt̪aɲo]. estilo is at rank #742, tagged as anoun, pronounced [esˈt̪ilo].

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 26371, this pair ranks #231,958 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of estaño vs estilo

Shared letters: eost. Private to "estaño": añ. Private to "estilo": il.

"estaño" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "estilo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estilo ← esitlo · esstilo · estillo · estiol · estlio · esttilo · etsilo · setilo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "estaño" for "estilo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([esˈt̪aɲo] versus [esˈt̪ilo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "estaño" or "estilo"?
"estilo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #742 in our Spanish list, against #25,629 for "estaño". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "estaño" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #231,958 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estaño" and "estilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estanca vs estaño". 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 #231,958 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