ingeniovsingenuosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,515
“ingenio” frequency rank
#23,096
“ingenuos” frequency rank
33611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ingenio ingenuos
Definition Habilidad para componer, inventar o para hallar medios adecuados a un fin. Forma del plural de ingenuo.

Where the eye mixes ingenio and ingenuos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ingenio
8 ch
ingenuos

Visual trap between ingenio and ingenuos

A purely visual mix-up. ingenio ([ĩŋˈxenjo]) and ingenuos ([ĩŋˈxenwos]) 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 33611, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ingenio is recorded at frequency rank #10,515, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩŋˈxenjo]. ingenuos is at rank #23,096, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩŋˈxenwos].

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 33611, this pair ranks #195,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ingenio vs ingenuos

Shared letters: egino. Private to "ingenio": -. Private to "ingenuos": su.

"ingenio" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "ingenuos" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ingenioignenio · inegnio · ingeino · ingennio · ingenoi · inggenio · ingneio · inngenio
  • ingenuosignenuos · inegnuos · ingennuos · ingenous · ingenuoss · ingenuso · ingeunos · inggenuos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ingenio" for "ingenuos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩŋˈxenjo] versus [ĩŋˈxenwos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ingenio" or "ingenuos" show up more?
"ingenio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,515 in our Spanish list, against #23,096 for "ingenuos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ingenio" and "ingenuos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ingenio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ingenuos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ingenio" and "ingenuos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ingentes vs ingenuos". 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 #195,868 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