hombrevshombroWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#214
“hombre” frequency rank
#5,008
“hombro” frequency rank
5222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hombre hombro
Definition Individuo de la especie humana, definido como mamífero primate dotado de inteligencia, que camina en posición vertical, posee manos prensiles y un cerebro voluminoso, y se comunica por medio de un lenguaje articulado. Parte del cuerpo que liga al cuello la articulación del brazo en el hombre.

Where the eye mixes hombre and hombro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hombre and hombro follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
hombre
6 ch
hombro

Look-alike desk: hombre vs hombro

A purely visual mix-up. hombre ([ˈõmbɾe]) and hombro ([ˈõmbɾo]) 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 - e in “hombre” becomes o in “hombro”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hombre is recorded at frequency rank #214, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈõmbɾe]. hombro is at rank #5,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈõmbɾo].

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 5222, this pair ranks #314,189 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hombre vs hombro

Shared letters: bhmor. Private to "hombre": e. Private to "hombro": -.

"hombre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "hombro" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hombre ← hhombre · hmobre · hobmre · hombbre · homber · hombrre · hommbre · homrbe
  • hombro ← hhombro · hmobro · hobmro · hombbro · hombor · hombrro · hommbro · homrbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hombre" and "hombro" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈõmbɾe] versus [ˈõmbɾo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hombre" or "hombro"?
"hombre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #214 in our Spanish list, against #5,008 for "hombro". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "hombre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hombro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #314,189 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hombre" and "hombro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hombría vs hombro". 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 #314,189 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