extintavsextintoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,506
“extinta” frequency rank
#33,603
“extinto” frequency rank
69109
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature extinta extinto
Definition Forma del femenino singular de extinto. Qué dejó de existir.

Where the eye mixes extinta and extinto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
extinta
7 ch
extinto

Why the eye confuses extinta with extinto

A purely visual mix-up. extinta ([eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪a]) and extinto ([eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪o]) 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 a single letter - a in “extinta” becomes o in “extinto”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extinta is recorded at frequency rank #35,506, classified as anadj, pronounced [eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪a]. extinto is at rank #33,603, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪o].

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 69109, this pair ranks #32,819 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of extinta vs extinto

Shared letters: eintx. Private to "extinta": a. Private to "extinto": o.

"extinta" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "extinto" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • extintaetxinta · exitnta · extinat · extinnta · extintta · extitna · extnita · exttinta
  • extintoetxinto · exitnto · extinnto · extinot · extintto · extitno · extnito · exttinto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "extinta" for "extinto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪a] versus [eksˈt̪ĩn̪t̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "extinta" or "extinto"?
"extinto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,603 in our Spanish list, against #35,506 for "extinta". 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 "extinta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extinto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,819 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "extinta" and "extinto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "extinta vs extintor". 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 #32,819 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