ingeniosvsintentosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,498
“ingenios” frequency rank
#4,798
“intentos” frequency rank
47296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ingenios intentos
Definition Forma del plural de ingenio. Forma del plural de intento.

Where the eye mixes ingenios and intentos

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

8 ch
ingenios
8 ch
intentos

Why the eye confuses ingenios with intentos

A purely visual mix-up. ingenios ([ĩŋˈxenjos]) and intentos ([ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪os]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ingenios is recorded at frequency rank #42,498, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩŋˈxenjos]. intentos is at rank #4,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪os].

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 47296, this pair ranks #120,852 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ingenios vs intentos

Shared letters: einos. Private to "ingenios": g. Private to "intentos": t.

"ingenios" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "intentos" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ingeniosignenios · inegnios · ingeinos · ingenioss · ingeniso · ingennios · ingenois · inggenios
  • intentosinetntos · inntentos · intenntos · intenots · intentoss · intentso · intenttos · intetnos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ingenios" and "intentos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ĩŋˈxenjos] versus [ĩn̪ˈt̪ẽn̪t̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ingenios" or "intentos" show up more?
"intentos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,798 in our Spanish list, against #42,498 for "ingenios". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ingenios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intentos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,852 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ingenios" and "intentos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ingenios vs ingentes". 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 #120,852 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