tesvsTell them apart

Quick tell: tes is a noun, is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tes” is a noun and “tú” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,970
“tes” frequency rank
#310
“tú” frequency rank
29280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tes
Definition Forma del plural de te. Nominativo y vocativo del pronombre personal de la segunda persona del singular.

Where the eye mixes tes and tú

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

3 ch
tes
2 ch
tú

Visual trap between tes and tú

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tes is [ˈt̪es] while is [ˈt̪u]. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tes is recorded at frequency rank #28,970, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪es]. is at rank #310, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈt̪u].

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 29280, this pair ranks #217,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tes vs tú

Shared letters: t. Private to "tes": es. Private to "tú": ú.

"tes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tú" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tes" and "tú" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tes" is a noun and "tú" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tes" or "tú"?
"tú" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #310 in our Spanish list, against #28,970 for "tes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tú" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,804 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tes" and "tú" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tes vs toys". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #217,804 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