timesvstimónTell them apart

Quick tell: times is a verb, timón is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“times” is a verb and “timón” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,841
“times” frequency rank
#18,701
“timón” frequency rank
23542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature times timón
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de subjuntivo de timar. 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 times and timón

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

5 ch
times
5 ch
timón

Why the eye confuses times with timón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: times is [ˈt̪imes] while timón is [t̪iˈmõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

times is recorded at frequency rank #4,841, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪imes]. 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 23542, this pair ranks #245,321 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of times vs timón

Shared letters: imt. Private to "times": es. Private to "timón": nó.

"times" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "timón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • times ← itmes · tiems · timess · timmes · timse · tmies · ttimes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "times" and "timón" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "times" is a verb and "timón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "times" vs "timón" - which ranks higher?
"times" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,841 in our Spanish list, against #18,701 for "timón". 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 "times" 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 #245,321 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "times" and "timón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tamos vs timón". 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 #245,321 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