SolísvssóloTell them apart

Quick tell: Solís is a name, sólo is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Solís” is a name and “sólo” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,723
“Solís” frequency rank
#127
“sólo” frequency rank
15850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Solís sólo
Definition Apellido. 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 Solís and sólo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Solís
4 ch
sólo

Why the eye confuses Solís with sólo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Solís is [soˈlis] 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 (name vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Solís is recorded at frequency rank #15,723, classified as aname, pronounced [soˈlis]. 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 15850, this pair ranks #278,525 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Solís vs sólo

Shared letters: los. Private to "Solís": í. Private to "sólo": ó.

"Solís" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "sólo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Solís" for "sólo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Solís" is a name and "sólo" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Solís" or "sólo"?
"sólo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #127 in our Spanish list, against #15,723 for "Solís". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Solís" 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 #278,525 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Solís" and "sólo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Solís vs subís". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #278,525 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