suciosvssustosWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sucios is a adjective, sustos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#10,937
“sucios” frequency rank
#38,983
“sustos” frequency rank
49920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sucios sustos
Definition Forma del masculino plural de sucio. Forma del plural de susto.

Where the eye mixes sucios and sustos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sucios (CVCVVC) and sustos (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
sucios
6 ch
sustos

Visual trap between sucios and sustos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sucios is [ˈsusjos] while sustos is [ˈsust̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sucios is recorded at frequency rank #10,937, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsusjos]. sustos is at rank #38,983, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsust̪os].

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 49920, this pair ranks #106,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sucios vs sustos

Shared letters: osu. Private to "sucios": ci. Private to "sustos": t.

"sucios" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "sustos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sucios ← scuios · ssucios · succios · sucioss · suciso · sucois · suicos · susios
  • sustos ← ssustos · ssutos · susots · susstos · sustoss · sustso · susttos · sutsos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sucios" and "sustos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sucios" is an adjective and "sustos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sucios" or "sustos"?
"sucios" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,937 in our Spanish list, against #38,983 for "sustos". 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 "sucios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sustos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #106,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sucios" and "sustos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sesgos vs sustos". 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 #106,113 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