turbavstuyaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,568
“turba” frequency rank
#2,850
“tuya” frequency rank
20418
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature turba tuya
Definition Combustible fósil formado de residuos vegetales acumulados en sitios pantanosos, de color pardo oscuro, aspecto terroso y poco peso. Árbol de la familia de los cipreses (Cupressaceae) en ser de figura piramidal y tener las hojas siempre verdes.

Where the eye mixes turba and tuya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
turba
4 ch
tuya

Why the eye confuses turba with tuya

A purely visual mix-up. turba ([ˈt̪uɾβ̞a]) and tuya ([ˈt̪uʝa]) 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 20418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

turba is recorded at frequency rank #17,568, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uɾβ̞a]. tuya is at rank #2,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uʝa].

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 20418, this pair ranks #259,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of turba vs tuya

Shared letters: atu. Private to "turba": br. Private to "tuya": y.

"turba" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tuya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • turbatruba · tturba · tubra · turab · turbba · turrba · turva · utrba
  • tuyattuya · tuay · tuyya · tyua · utya

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "turba" for "tuya" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt̪uɾβ̞a] versus [ˈt̪uʝa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "turba" or "tuya"?
"tuya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,850 in our Spanish list, against #17,568 for "turba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "turba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tuya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "turba" and "tuya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "turba vs turbas". 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 #259,417 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