siglovssingleTell them apart

Quick tell: siglo is a noun, single is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“siglo” is a noun and “single” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#618
“siglo” frequency rank
#10,761
“single” frequency rank
11379
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature siglo single
Definition Período de cien años. Dícese de cualquier cabo que laborea sencillo, como la braza, el amantillo, etc. cuando uno de sus chicotes está hecho firme en el peñol de la verga.

Where the eye mixes siglo and single

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
siglo
6 ch
single

Why the eye confuses siglo with single

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: siglo is [ˈsiɣ̞lo] while single is [ˈsĩŋgle]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

siglo is recorded at frequency rank #618, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsiɣ̞lo]. single is at rank #10,761, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsĩŋgle].

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 11379, this pair ranks #295,329 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of siglo vs single

Shared letters: gils. Private to "siglo": o. Private to "single": en.

"siglo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • siglociglo · isglo · sgilo · sigglo · sigllo · sigol · silgo · ssiglo
  • singlecingle · isngle · signle · singel · singgle · singlle · sinlge · sinngle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "siglo" and "single" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "siglo" is a noun and "single" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "siglo" or "single" show up more?
"siglo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #618 in our Spanish list, against #10,761 for "single". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "siglo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "single" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,329 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "siglo" and "single" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "señalé vs single". 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 #295,329 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