signovssimioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,118
“signo” frequency rank
#26,619
“simio” frequency rank
30737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature signo simio
Definition Señal, indicio. Primate con características similares a las del ser humano (antropoide). El término se refiere a muchas especies diferentes, pero tiende a equivaler a la orden de los Simiiformes, varias de ellas hominoides.

Where the eye mixes signo and simio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
signo
5 ch
simio

Look-alike desk: signo vs simio

A purely visual mix-up. signo ([ˈsiɣ̞no]) and simio ([ˈsimjo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

signo is recorded at frequency rank #4,118, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsiɣ̞no]. simio is at rank #26,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsimjo].

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 30737, this pair ranks #210,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of signo vs simio

Shared letters: ios. Private to "signo": gn. Private to "simio": m.

"signo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "simio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • signocigno · isgno · sgino · siggno · signno · sigon · singo · ssigno
  • simiocimio · ismio · siimo · simmio · simoi · smiio · ssimio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "signo" and "simio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsiɣ̞no] versus [ˈsimjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "signo" or "simio" show up more?
"signo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,118 in our Spanish list, against #26,619 for "simio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "signo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "simio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #210,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "signo" and "simio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Simeón vs simio". 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 #210,545 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