nombrarvsnombresWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,570
“nombrar” frequency rank
#1,221
“nombres” frequency rank
7791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nombrar nombres
Definition Dar nombre a una persona, animal o cosa. Forma del plural de nombre.

Where the eye mixes nombrar and nombres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. nombrar and nombres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
nombrar
7 ch
nombres

Visual trap between nombrar and nombres

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nombrar is [nõmˈbɾaɾ] while nombres is [ˈnõmbɾes]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 7791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nombrar is recorded at frequency rank #6,570, classified as averb, pronounced [nõmˈbɾaɾ]. nombres is at rank #1,221, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnõmbɾes].

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 7791, this pair ranks #306,919 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nombrar vs nombres

Shared letters: bmnor. Private to "nombrar": a. Private to "nombres": es.

"nombrar" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "nombres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nombrar ← nmobrar · nnombrar · nobmrar · nombarr · nombbrar · nombrarr · nombrra · nombrrar
  • nombres ← nmobres · nnombres · nobmres · nombbres · nombers · nombress · nombrres · nombrse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nombrar" and "nombres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nombrar" is a verb and "nombres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "nombrar" or "nombres" show up more?
"nombres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,221 in our Spanish list, against #6,570 for "nombrar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nombrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nombres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,919 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nombrar" and "nombres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nombrar vs nombren". 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 #306,919 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