ultimavsúltimosWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,843
“ultima” frequency rank
#677
“últimos” frequency rank
5520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ultima últimos
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ultimar. Forma del plural de último.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ultima and últimos apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ultima
7 ch
últimos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ultima is [ul̪ˈt̪ima] while últimos is [ˈul̪t̪imos]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ultima is recorded at frequency rank #4,843, classified as averb, pronounced [ul̪ˈt̪ima]. últimos is at rank #677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈul̪t̪imos].

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 5520, this pair ranks #313,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ultima vs últimos

Shared letters: ilmt. Private to "ultima": au. Private to "últimos": osú.

"ultima" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "últimos" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ultimalutima · ulitma · ulltima · ultiam · ultimma · ultmia · ulttima · utlima

Frequency comparison

ultima#4,843
últimos#677

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ultima" and "últimos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ultima" is a verb and "últimos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ultima" or "últimos"?
"últimos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #677 in our Spanish list, against #4,843 for "ultima". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ultima vs últimos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “ultima”; for a noun, it's “últimos”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ultima” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list