tilvstildeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: til is a preposition, tilde is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“til” is a preposition and “tilde” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,972
“til” frequency rank
#24,332
“tilde” frequency rank
53304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature til tilde
Definition Hasta. 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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set til and tilde apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
til
5 ch
tilde

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

til and tilde form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “til” sits inside “tilde” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

til is recorded at frequency rank #28,972, classified as aprep, pronounced /tɪl/. 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 53304, this pair ranks #88,558 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

til#28,972
tilde#24,332

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "til" and "tilde" be used interchangeably?
No, "til" and "tilde" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering til vs tilde

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “til”; for a noun, it's “tilde”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “til” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list