lentovslongoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,426
“lento” frequency rank
#49,119
“longo” frequency rank
52545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lento longo
Definition Que obra, sucede o se hace con velocidad reducida. Largo.

Where the eye mixes lento and longo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lento and longo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
lento
5 ch
longo

Look-alike desk: lento vs longo

A purely visual mix-up. lento ([ˈlẽn̪t̪o]) and longo ([ˈloŋɡʊ]) 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 52545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lento is recorded at frequency rank #3,426, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlẽn̪t̪o]. longo is at rank #49,119, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈloŋɡʊ].

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 52545, this pair ranks #92,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lento vs longo

Shared letters: lno. Private to "lento": et. Private to "longo": g.

"lento" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "longo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lento ← elnto · lennto · lenot · lentto · letno · llento · lneto
  • longo ← llongo · lnogo · logno · longgo · lonngo · lonog · olngo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lento" for "longo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlẽn̪t̪o] versus [ˈloŋɡʊ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "lento" or "longo" show up more?
"lento" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,426 in our Spanish list, against #49,119 for "longo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "lento" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "longo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,174 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lento" and "longo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs lotto". 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 #92,174 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