timidezvstímidosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: timidez is a noun, tímidos is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“timidez” is a noun and “tímidos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,249
“timidez” frequency rank
#32,912
“tímidos” frequency rank
56161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timidez tímidos
Definition Reacción de inseguridad y vergüenza de una persona, que puede ir acompañada de rubor y sudoración, y en algunos casos llega hasta la incapacidad para actuar. Forma del plural de tímido.

Where the eye mixes timidez and tímidos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. timidez and tímidos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
timidez
7 ch
tímidos

Visual trap between timidez and tímidos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: timidez is [t̪imiˈð̞es] while tímidos is [ˈt̪imið̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timidez is recorded at frequency rank #23,249, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪imiˈð̞es]. tímidos is at rank #32,912, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪imið̞os].

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 56161, this pair ranks #75,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of timidez vs tímidos

Shared letters: dimt. Private to "timidez": ez. Private to "tímidos": osí.

"timidez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "tímidos" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • timidez ← itmidez · tiimdez · timdiez · timiddez · timidezz · timidze · timiedz · timmidez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "timidez" for "tímidos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "timidez" is a noun and "tímidos" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "timidez" or "tímidos"?
"timidez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,249 in our Spanish list, against #32,912 for "tímidos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "timidez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tímidos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timidez" and "tímidos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tibios vs tímidos". 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 #75,782 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