timónvstomosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,701
“timón” frequency rank
#17,305
“tomos” frequency rank
36006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timón tomos
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 tomo.

Where the eye mixes timón and tomos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
timón
5 ch
tomos

Visual trap between timón and tomos

A purely visual mix-up. timón ([t̪iˈmõn]) and tomos ([ˈt̪omos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36006, 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]. tomos is at rank #17,305, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪omos].

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 36006, this pair ranks #182,978 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of timón vs tomos

Shared letters: mt. Private to "timón": inó. Private to "tomos": os.

"timón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "tomos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomosotmos · tmoos · tommos · tomoss · tomso · tooms · ttomos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "timón" and "tomos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([t̪iˈmõn] versus [ˈt̪omos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "timón" vs "tomos" - which ranks higher?
"tomos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,305 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.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "timón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tomos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #182,978 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timón" and "tomos" 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 #182,978 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