respaldovsrespaldosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,152
“respaldo” frequency rank
#49,250
“respaldos” frequency rank
54402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature respaldo respaldos
Definition La parte de un mueble que descansa la espalda Forma del plural de respaldo.

Where the eye mixes respaldo and respaldos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. respaldo runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against respaldos's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
respaldo
9 ch
respaldos

Why the eye confuses respaldo with respaldos

A purely visual mix-up. respaldo ([resˈpal̪d̪o]) and respaldos ([resˈpal̪d̪os]) 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) - “respaldo” sits inside “respaldos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

respaldo is recorded at frequency rank #5,152, classified as anoun, pronounced [resˈpal̪d̪o]. respaldos is at rank #49,250, tagged as anoun, pronounced [resˈpal̪d̪os].

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 54402, this pair ranks #83,483 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of respaldo vs respaldos

Shared letters: adeloprs. Private to "respaldo": -. Private to "respaldos": -.

"respaldo" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "respaldos" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • respaldo ← erspaldo · repsaldo · resapldo · respadlo · respalddo · respalldo · respalod · resplado
  • respaldos ← erspaldos · repsaldos · resapldos · respadlos · respalddos · respaldoss · respaldso · respalldos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "respaldo" and "respaldos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([resˈpal̪d̪o] versus [resˈpal̪d̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "respaldo" or "respaldos"?
"respaldo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,152 in our Spanish list, against #49,250 for "respaldos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "respaldo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "respaldos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,483 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "respaldo" and "respaldos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "respaldados vs respaldos". 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 #83,483 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