fijovsfríoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,844
“fijo” frequency rank
#1,729
“frío” frequency rank
5573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fijo frío
Definition Que está bien atado, apretado o asegurado. De temperatura inferior a la normal.

Where the eye mixes fijo and frío

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fijo
4 ch
frío

Look-alike desk: fijo vs frío

A purely visual mix-up. fijo ([ˈfixo]) and frío ([ˈfɾio]) 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 5573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fijo is recorded at frequency rank #3,844, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfixo]. frío is at rank #1,729, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɾio].

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 5573, this pair ranks #313,275 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fijo vs frío

Shared letters: fo. Private to "fijo": ij. Private to "frío": .

"fijo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "frío" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fijoffijo · fijjo · fioj · fjio · ifjo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fijo" and "frío" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfixo] versus [ˈfɾio]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fijo" or "frío"?
"frío" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,729 in our Spanish list, against #3,844 for "fijo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "fijo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frío" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #313,275 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fijo" and "frío" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fijo vs filos". 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 #313,275 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