vsturnTell them apart

Quick tell: is a pronoun, turn is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#310
“tú” frequency rank
#33,885
“turn” frequency rank
34195
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature turn
Definition Nominativo y vocativo del pronombre personal de la segunda persona del singular. En el póquer, cuarta carta que se coloca boca arriba después del flop.

Where the eye mixes tú and turn

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

2 ch
tú
4 ch
turn

Why the eye confuses tú with turn

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: is [ˈt̪u] while turn is [ˈt̪uɾn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

is recorded at frequency rank #310, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈt̪u]. turn is at rank #33,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uɾn].

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 34195, this pair ranks #192,735 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tú vs turn

Shared letters: t. Private to "tú": ú. Private to "turn": nru.

"tú" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • turntrun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tú" for "turn" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tú" is a pronoun and "turn" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tú" vs "turn" - which ranks higher?
"tú" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #310 in our Spanish list, against #33,885 for "turn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tú" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "turn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,735 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tú" and "turn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tul vs turn". 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 #192,735 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