turbinavsturbioTell them apart

Quick tell: turbina is a noun, turbio is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“turbina” is a noun and “turbio” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,985
“turbina” frequency rank
#22,222
“turbio” frequency rank
51207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature turbina turbio
Definition Rueda hidráulica, con paletas curvas colocadas en su periferia, que recibe el agua por el centro y la despide en dirección tangente a la circunferencia, con lo cual aprovecha la mayor parte posible de la fuerza motriz. Dicho de un líquido, lleno de impurezas que lo opacan.

Where the eye mixes turbina and turbio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
turbina
6 ch
turbio

Look-alike desk: turbina vs turbio

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: turbina is [t̪uɾˈβ̞ina] while turbio is [ˈt̪uɾβ̞jo]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

turbina is recorded at frequency rank #28,985, classified as anoun, pronounced [t̪uɾˈβ̞ina]. turbio is at rank #22,222, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt̪uɾβ̞jo].

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 51207, this pair ranks #99,058 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of turbina vs turbio

Shared letters: birtu. Private to "turbina": an. Private to "turbio": o.

"turbina" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "turbio" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • turbinatrubina · tturbina · tubrina · turbbina · turbian · turbinna · turbnia · turibna
  • turbiotrubio · tturbio · tubrio · turbbio · turboi · turibo · turrbio · turvio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "turbina" and "turbio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "turbina" is a noun and "turbio" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "turbina" or "turbio" show up more?
"turbio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,222 in our Spanish list, against #28,985 for "turbina". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "turbina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "turbio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,058 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "turbina" and "turbio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "turbas vs turbio". 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 #99,058 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