Which to use
“sello” is a noun and “sólo” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,550
- “sello” frequency rank
- #127
- “sólo” frequency rank
- 4677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sello | sólo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Altorrelieve de un texto, signo o figura que, previamente entintado, se emplea para estamparlo en un documento. | Grafía alternativa de solo (adverbio). Cada vez que deba entenderse como equivalente de solamente y sea posible la confusión con el adjetivo homónimo, es optativo tildar la palabra para desambiguar. |
Where the eye mixes sello and sólo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sello and sólo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sello is [ˈseʝo] while sólo is [ˈsolo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sello is recorded at frequency rank #4,550, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈseʝo]. sólo is at rank #127, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈsolo].
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 4677, this pair ranks #315,520 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sello vs sólo
Shared letters: los. Private to "sello": e. Private to "sólo": ó.
"sello" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "sólo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sello ← cello · esllo · selo · selol · slelo · ssello
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sello" and "sólo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "sello" or "sólo" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sello" and "sólo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sello" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sólo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,520 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sello" and "sólo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sila vs sólo". 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 #315,520 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.