timovstimónWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,844
“timo” frequency rank
#18,701
“timón” frequency rank
39545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timo timón
Definition Glándula que controlar el sistema inmunitario del organismo en los mamíferos. Es bilobulada, ubicándose en el mediastino, detrás del esternón. Sus secreciones controlan el desarrollo del sistema linfático y el crecimiento; alcanza su mayor tamaño en la pubertad, reduciéndose luego. La de algunos animales es muy apreciada en gastronomía con el nombre de molleja. 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 timo and timón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
timo
5 ch
timón

Why the eye confuses timo with timón

A purely visual mix-up. timo ([ˈt̪imo]) and timón ([t̪iˈmõn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timo is recorded at frequency rank #20,844, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪imo]. 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 39545, this pair ranks #163,899 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of timo vs timón

Shared letters: imt. Private to "timo": o. Private to "timón": .

"timo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "timón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • timoitmo · timmo · tiom · tmio · ttimo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "timo" for "timón" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪imo] versus [t̪iˈmõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "timo" or "timón" show up more?
"timón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,701 in our Spanish list, against #20,844 for "timo". 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 "timo" 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 #163,899 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timo" and "timón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tapo vs timo". 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 #163,899 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