modalesvsmóvilesConfusable pair

Quick tell: modales is a noun, móviles is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,166
“modales” frequency rank
#3,801
“móviles” frequency rank
18967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modales móviles
Definition Acciones externas de cada persona, con que se hace reparar y se singulariza entre las demás, dando a conocer su buena o mala educación. Antes era sustantivo ambiguo. Forma del plural de móvil.

Where the eye mixes modales and móviles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. modales and móviles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
modales
7 ch
móviles

Visual trap between modales and móviles

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: modales is [moˈð̞ales] while móviles is [ˈmoβ̞iles]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modales is recorded at frequency rank #15,166, classified as anoun, pronounced [moˈð̞ales]. móviles is at rank #3,801, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmoβ̞iles].

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 18967, this pair ranks #265,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of modales vs móviles

Shared letters: elms. Private to "modales": ado. Private to "móviles": ivó.

"modales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "móviles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modales ← mdoales · mmodales · moadles · modaels · modaless · modalles · modalse · moddales

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modales" for "móviles" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "modales" is a noun and "móviles" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "modales" vs "móviles" - which ranks higher?
"móviles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,801 in our Spanish list, against #15,166 for "modales". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "modales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "móviles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modales" and "móviles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modal vs modales". 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 #265,728 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