grúavsgunTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,427
“grúa” frequency rank
#24,174
“gun” frequency rank
43601
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grúa gun
Definition (familia Gruidae) Cualquiera de unas quince especies de aves gruiformes de gran tamaño, con cuerpos estilizados, cuello y patas largos, y alas de perfil redondeado, que habitan en humedales de todo el mundo. Arma de fuego.

Where the eye mixes grúa and gun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
grúa
3 ch
gun

Why the eye confuses grúa with gun

A purely visual mix-up. grúa ([ˈgɾua]) and gun (/ɡʌn/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grúa is recorded at frequency rank #19,427, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈgɾua]. gun is at rank #24,174, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡʌn/.

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 43601, this pair ranks #141,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grúa vs gun

Shared letters: g. Private to "grúa": arú. Private to "gun": nu.

"grúa" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "gun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grúa" for "gun" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈgɾua] versus /ɡʌn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "grúa" or "gun" show up more?
"grúa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,427 in our Spanish list, against #24,174 for "gun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grúa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grúa" and "gun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guan vs gun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #141,782 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