hubovshurtoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hubo is a verb, hurto is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hubo” is a verb and “hurto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#789
“hubo” frequency rank
#22,047
“hurto” frequency rank
22836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hubo hurto
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de haber. Acción o efecto de hurtar.

Where the eye mixes hubo and hurto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hubo
5 ch
hurto

Visual trap between hubo and hurto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hubo is [ˈuβ̞o] while hurto is [ˈuɾt̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hubo is recorded at frequency rank #789, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈuβ̞o]. hurto is at rank #22,047, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈuɾt̪o].

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 22836, this pair ranks #248,517 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hubo vs hurto

Shared letters: hou. Private to "hubo": b. Private to "hurto": rt.

"hubo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "hurto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hubohbuo · hhubo · hubbo · huob · huvo · uhbo
  • hurtohhurto · hruto · hurot · hurrto · hurtto · hutro · uhrto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hubo" and "hurto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hubo" is a verb and "hurto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hubo" vs "hurto" - which ranks higher?
"hubo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #789 in our Spanish list, against #22,047 for "hurto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hubo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hurto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,517 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hubo" and "hurto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hurto vs hurtos". 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 #248,517 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