turnvstuveTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#33,885
“turn” frequency rank
#1,047
“tuve” frequency rank
34932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature turn tuve
Definition En el póquer, cuarta carta que se coloca boca arriba después del flop. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de tener o de tenerse.

Where the eye mixes turn and tuve

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
turn
4 ch
tuve

Why the eye confuses turn with tuve

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: turn is [ˈt̪uɾn] while tuve is [ˈt̪uβ̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

turn is recorded at frequency rank #33,885, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uɾn]. tuve is at rank #1,047, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt̪uβ̞e].

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 34932, this pair ranks #188,776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of turn vs tuve

Shared letters: tu. Private to "turn": nr. Private to "tuve": ev.

"turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tuve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • turntrun · tturn · tunr · turnn · turrn · utrn
  • tuvettuve · tuev · tuvve · tvue · utve

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "turn" for "tuve" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "turn" is a noun and "tuve" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "turn" vs "tuve" - which ranks higher?
"tuve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,047 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "turn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tuve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "turn" and "tuve" 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 #188,776 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