nacióvsnavíoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nació is a verb, navío is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nació” is a verb and “navío” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,177
“nació” frequency rank
#18,326
“navío” frequency rank
20503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nació navío
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de nacer. Barco de gran tamaño usado como nave de guerra, transporte o comercio a grandes distancias.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nació and navío apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
nació
5 ch
navío

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nació is [naˈsjo] while navío is [naˈβ̞io]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nació is recorded at frequency rank #2,177, classified as averb, pronounced [naˈsjo]. navío is at rank #18,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced [naˈβ̞io].

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 20503, this pair ranks #259,049 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nació vs navío

Shared letters: an. Private to "nació": ció. Private to "navío": oví.

"nació" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "navío" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequency comparison

nació#2,177
navío#18,326

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nació" and "navío" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nació" is a verb and "navío" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nació" or "navío"?
"nació" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,177 in our Spanish list, against #18,326 for "navío". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nació vs navío

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “nació”; for a noun, it's “navío”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nació” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list