murciélagovsmurciélagosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,432
“murciélago” frequency rank
#23,510
“murciélagos” frequency rank
43942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature murciélago murciélagos
Definition (Chiroptera) Mamífero volador perteneciente al orden de los quirópteros. Forma del plural de murciélago.

Where the eye mixes murciélago and murciélagos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. murciélago runs 10 letters (CVCCVVCVCV) against murciélagos's 11 (CVCCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
murciélago
11 ch
murciélagos

Why the eye confuses murciélago with murciélagos

A purely visual mix-up. murciélago ([muɾˈsjelaɣ̞o]) and murciélagos ([muɾˈsjelaɣ̞os]) 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 extra letter(s) - “murciélago” sits inside “murciélagos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

murciélago is recorded at frequency rank #20,432, classified as anoun, pronounced [muɾˈsjelaɣ̞o]. murciélagos is at rank #23,510, tagged as anoun, pronounced [muɾˈsjelaɣ̞os].

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 43942, this pair ranks #139,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of murciélago vs murciélagos

Shared letters: acgilmorué. Private to "murciélago": -. Private to "murciélagos": s.

"murciélago" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV  ·  "murciélagos" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "murciélago" for "murciélagos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([muɾˈsjelaɣ̞o] versus [muɾˈsjelaɣ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "murciélago" or "murciélagos"?
"murciélago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,432 in our Spanish list, against #23,510 for "murciélagos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "murciélago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "murciélagos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #139,794 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