timónvstíosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,701
“timón” frequency rank
#9,742
“tíos” frequency rank
28443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timón tíos
Definition 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. Forma del plural de tío.

Where the eye mixes timón and tíos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

5 ch
timón
4 ch
tíos

Look-alike desk: timón vs tíos

A purely visual mix-up. timón ([t̪iˈmõn]) and tíos ([ˈt̪ios]) 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 28443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timón is recorded at frequency rank #18,701, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪iˈmõn]. tíos is at rank #9,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ios].

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 28443, this pair ranks #222,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of timón vs tíos

Shared letters: t. Private to "timón": imnó. Private to "tíos": osí.

"timón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tíos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "timón" and "tíos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([t̪iˈmõn] versus [ˈt̪ios]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "timón" vs "tíos" - which ranks higher?
"tíos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,742 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "timón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tíos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timón" and "tíos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tamos vs timón". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #222,017 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