valióvsvaliosoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: valió is a verb, valioso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“valió” is a verb and “valioso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,734
“valió” frequency rank
#7,243
“valioso” frequency rank
15977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature valió valioso
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de valer o de valerse. Muy apreciado, valorado, estimado; de gran valía.

Where the eye mixes valió and valioso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. valió runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against valioso's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
valió
7 ch
valioso

Look-alike desk: valió vs valioso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: valió is [baˈljo] while valioso is [baˈljoso]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

valió is recorded at frequency rank #8,734, classified as averb, pronounced [baˈljo]. valioso is at rank #7,243, tagged as anadj, pronounced [baˈljoso].

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 15977, this pair ranks #278,010 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of valió vs valioso

Shared letters: ailv. Private to "valió": ó. Private to "valioso": os.

"valió" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "valioso" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • valioso ← avlioso · balioso · vailoso · valioos · valiosso · valisoo · vallioso · valoiso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "valió" for "valioso" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "valió" is a verb and "valioso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "valió" vs "valioso" - which ranks higher?
"valioso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,243 in our Spanish list, against #8,734 for "valió". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "valió" and "valioso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "valió" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "valioso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,010 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "valió" and "valioso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "valioso vs vanidoso". 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 #278,010 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