Which to use
“palillo” and “palillos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,487
- “palillo” frequency rank
- #40,442
- “palillos” frequency rank
- 85929
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palillo | palillos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrumento de madera, afilado por al menos uno de sus extremos, que es usado para eliminar restos de comida de entre los dientes. | Forma del plural de palillo. |
Where the eye mixes palillo and palillos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. palillo runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against palillos's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: palillo vs palillos
A purely visual mix-up. palillo ([paˈliʝo]) and palillos ([paˈliʝos]) 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) - “palillo” sits inside “palillos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palillo is recorded at frequency rank #45,487, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈliʝo]. palillos is at rank #40,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈliʝos].
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 85929, this pair ranks #5,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palillo vs palillos
Shared letters: ailop. Private to "palillo": -. Private to "palillos": s.
"palillo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "palillos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "palillo" and "palillos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "palillo" or "palillos"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "palillo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "palillos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palillo" and "palillos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palillo vs patilla". 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 #5,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.