tigrevstildeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,569
“tigre” frequency rank
#24,332
“tilde” frequency rank
29901
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tigre tilde
Definition (Panthera tigris) Felino asiático de gran tamaño, el mayor del mundo y una de las cuatro especies capaces de rugir gracias a la peculiar conformación de su hioides. Es distintiva su piel rayada de base naranja a blanca con franjas negras. Son predadores solitarios, que cazan en la selva y junto a los ríos, y grandes nadadores. Existen ocho subespecies, distribuidas por el Lejano Oriente, el Indostán y Siberia, todas ellas amenazadas de extinción. El acento agudo; marca gráfica ´ que se usa, en castellano, para indicar la sílaba en donde recae el acento prosódico cuando las reglas ortográficas prescriben que es necesario hacerlo o que, de lo contrario, caería en otra sílaba.

Where the eye mixes tigre and tilde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tigre and tilde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
tigre
5 ch
tilde

Why the eye confuses tigre with tilde

A purely visual mix-up. tigre ([ˈt̪iɣ̞ɾe]) and tilde ([ˈt̪il̪d̪e]) 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 29901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tigre is recorded at frequency rank #5,569, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪iɣ̞ɾe]. tilde is at rank #24,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪il̪d̪e].

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 29901, this pair ranks #214,696 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tigre vs tilde

Shared letters: eit. Private to "tigre": gr. Private to "tilde": dl.

"tigre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tigre ← itgre · tgire · tiggre · tigrre · tirge · ttigre
  • tilde ← itlde · tidle · tildde · tiled · tillde · tlide · ttilde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tigre" for "tilde" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪iɣ̞ɾe] versus [ˈt̪il̪d̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tigre" or "tilde"?
"tigre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,569 in our Spanish list, against #24,332 for "tilde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tilde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,696 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tigre" and "tilde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tale vs tilde". 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 #214,696 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