filovsfotoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,668
“filo” frequency rank
#376
“foto” frequency rank
11044
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature filo foto
Definition En un instrumento cortante, el borde agudo que corta. Fotografía.

Where the eye mixes filo and foto

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

4 ch
filo
4 ch
foto

Why the eye confuses filo with foto

A purely visual mix-up. filo ([ˈfilo]) and foto ([ˈfot̪o]) 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 11044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

filo is recorded at frequency rank #10,668, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfilo]. foto is at rank #376, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfot̪o].

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 11044, this pair ranks #296,468 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of filo vs foto

Shared letters: fo. Private to "filo": il. Private to "foto": t.

"filo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "foto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filoffilo · fillo · fiol · flio · iflo
  • fotoffoto · fotto · ftoo · ofto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "filo" and "foto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfilo] versus [ˈfot̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "filo" or "foto"?
"foto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #376 in our Spanish list, against #10,668 for "filo". 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 "filo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #296,468 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "filo" and "foto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filo 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 #296,468 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