talónvstimónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,174
“talón” frequency rank
#18,701
“timón” frequency rank
39875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature talón timón
Definition Parte posterior del pie con la que se pisa. Máquina compuesta de varias piezas de madera formando un conjunto aplanado, que se coloca verticalmente en el codaste de las embarcaciones, asegurándola por medio de machos de bronce o hierro que encajan en otras tantas hembras que hay en él. Sirve el timón manejado, por la caña que se hace firme a su extremo superior o cabeza, para dar a la nave siempre que camina o está aproada a una corriente, todos los movimientos giratorios que son necesarios. En los buques de hierro se compone el timón de planchas del mismo material; y en las embarcaciones menores se reduce a una tabla; en muchas de estas suelen estar los machos clavados en el codaste.

Where the eye mixes talón and timón

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

5 ch
talón
5 ch
timón

Look-alike desk: talón vs timón

A purely visual mix-up. talón ([t̪aˈlõn]) and timón ([t̪iˈmõn]) 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 39875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

talón is recorded at frequency rank #21,174, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪aˈlõn]. timón is at rank #18,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced [t̪iˈmõn].

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 39875, this pair ranks #162,190 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of talón vs timón

Shared letters: ntó. Private to "talón": al. Private to "timón": im.

"talón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "timón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "talón" and "timón" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([t̪aˈlõn] versus [t̪iˈmõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "talón" or "timón"?
"timón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,701 in our Spanish list, against #21,174 for "talón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "talón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "timón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #162,190 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "talón" and "timón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talón vs tapo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #162,190 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