totvsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: tot is a adjective, is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tot” is an adjective and “tú” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,183
“tot” frequency rank
#310
“tú” frequency rank
42493
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tot
Definition Muerto. Nominativo y vocativo del pronombre personal de la segunda persona del singular.

Where the eye mixes tot and tú

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

3 ch
tot
2 ch
tú

Visual trap between tot and tú

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tot is [toːt] while is [ˈt̪u]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tot is recorded at frequency rank #42,183, classified as anadj, pronounced [toːt]. is at rank #310, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈt̪u].

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 42493, this pair ranks #147,895 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tot vs tú

Shared letters: t. Private to "tot": o. Private to "tú": ú.

"tot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tú" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tot" for "tú" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tot" is an adjective and "tú" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tot" vs "tú" - which ranks higher?
"tú" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #310 in our Spanish list, against #42,183 for "tot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tú" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,895 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tot" and "tú" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tot vs toys". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #147,895 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