indiovsíntimoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,790
“indio” frequency rank
#11,337
“íntimo” frequency rank
15127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indio íntimo
Definition Originario, relativo a, o propio de la India o el Indostán en general. Interior, interno.

Where the eye mixes indio and íntimo

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

5 ch
indio
6 ch
íntimo

Why the eye confuses indio with íntimo

A purely visual mix-up. indio ([ˈĩn̪d̪jo]) and íntimo ([ˈĩn̪t̪imo]) 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 15127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indio is recorded at frequency rank #3,790, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈĩn̪d̪jo]. íntimo is at rank #11,337, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈĩn̪t̪imo].

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 15127, this pair ranks #281,425 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indio vs íntimo

Shared letters: ino. Private to "indio": d. Private to "íntimo": mtí.

"indio" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "íntimo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indioidnio · inddio · indoi · inido · inndio · nidio

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indio" and "íntimo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈĩn̪d̪jo] versus [ˈĩn̪t̪imo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indio" vs "íntimo" - which ranks higher?
"indio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,790 in our Spanish list, against #11,337 for "íntimo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "indio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "íntimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,425 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indio" and "íntimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intima vs íntimo". 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 #281,425 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