vstyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,126
“té” frequency rank
#28,987
“ty” frequency rank
33113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ty
Definition (Camellia sinensis) Arbusto de la famila de las cameliáceas, originario de Assam y de Bengala. Fue cultivado en China desde el siglo IV e introducido en Europa en el siglo XVI. Es perenne, de no más de 4 metros de altura, con hojas lanceoladas, ligeramente pubescentes, de hasta 15 centímetros de longitud y 5 de ancho. Las flores son blanco-amarillentas. Flauta china de seis agujeros.

Where the eye mixes té and ty

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
té
2 ch
ty

Look-alike desk: té vs ty

A purely visual mix-up. ([ˈt̪e]) and ty ([ˈt̪i]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - é in “té” becomes y in “ty”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

is recorded at frequency rank #4,126, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪e]. ty is at rank #28,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪i].

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 33113, this pair ranks #198,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of té vs ty

Shared letters: t. Private to "té": é. Private to "ty": y.

"té" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "ty" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "té" and "ty" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪e] versus [ˈt̪i]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "té" or "ty"?
"té" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,126 in our Spanish list, against #28,987 for "ty". 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 "té" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "té" and "ty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toys vs ty". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #198,522 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