ilícitovsinicioConfusable pair

Quick tell: ilícito is a adjective, inicio is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ilícito” is an adjective and “inicio” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,866
“ilícito” frequency rank
#1,294
“inicio” frequency rank
16160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ilícito inicio
Definition Que está fuera de lo legal, de lo moral o de las reglas establecidas. Principio u origen de alguna cosa; punto de partida; momento o lugar en que algo comienza.

Where the eye mixes ilícito and inicio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ilícito runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against inicio's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
ilícito
6 ch
inicio

Look-alike desk: ilícito vs inicio

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ilícito is [iˈlisit̪o] while inicio is [iˈnisjo]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ilícito is recorded at frequency rank #14,866, classified as anadj, pronounced [iˈlisit̪o]. inicio is at rank #1,294, tagged as anoun, pronounced [iˈnisjo].

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 16160, this pair ranks #277,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ilícito vs inicio

Shared letters: cio. Private to "ilícito": ltí. Private to "inicio": n.

"ilícito" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "inicio" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inicio ← iincio · inciio · iniccio · inicoi · iniico · inisio · innicio · niicio

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ilícito" for "inicio" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ilícito" is an adjective and "inicio" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ilícito" or "inicio"?
"inicio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,294 in our Spanish list, against #14,866 for "ilícito". 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 "ilícito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inicio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ilícito" and "inicio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "idilio vs inicio". 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 #277,281 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