tímidavstímidoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,724
“tímida” frequency rank
#15,749
“tímido” frequency rank
32473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tímida tímido
Definition Forma del femenino de tímido. Que reacciona de forma insegura y con vergüenza ante el contacto o la presencia de otros, que siente timidez.

Where the eye mixes tímida and tímido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tímida and tímido follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tímida
6 ch
tímido

Why the eye confuses tímida with tímido

A purely visual mix-up. tímida ([ˈt̪imið̞a]) and tímido ([ˈt̪imið̞o]) 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 - a in “tímida” becomes o in “tímido”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tímida is recorded at frequency rank #16,724, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪imið̞a]. tímido is at rank #15,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪imið̞o].

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 32473, this pair ranks #201,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tímida vs tímido

Shared letters: dimtí. Private to "tímida": a. Private to "tímido": o.

"tímida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tímido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tímida" for "tímido" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪imið̞a] versus [ˈt̪imið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tímida" vs "tímido" - which ranks higher?
"tímido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,749 in our Spanish list, against #16,724 for "tímida". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tímida" and "tímido" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tímida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tímido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tímida" and "tímido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tejida vs tímida". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #201,768 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