tíosvstoysTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,742
“tíos” frequency rank
#49,989
“toys” frequency rank
59731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tíos toys
Definition Forma del plural de tío. Forma del plural de toy.

Where the eye mixes tíos and toys

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tíos and toys follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
tíos
4 ch
toys

Visual trap between tíos and toys

A purely visual mix-up. tíos ([ˈt̪ios]) and toys (/tɔɪz/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tíos is recorded at frequency rank #9,742, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪ios]. toys is at rank #49,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɔɪz/.

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 59731, this pair ranks #61,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tíos vs toys

Shared letters: ost. Private to "tíos": í. Private to "toys": y.

"tíos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "toys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • toys ← otys · tosy · toyss · toyys · ttoys · tyos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tíos" and "toys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪ios] versus /tɔɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tíos" vs "toys" - which ranks higher?
"tíos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,742 in our Spanish list, against #49,989 for "toys". 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 "tíos" and "toys" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tíos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "toys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tíos" and "toys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tomb vs toys". 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 #61,529 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