viciovsviloTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,938
“vicio” frequency rank
#41,132
“vilo” frequency rank
49070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vicio vilo
Definition Hábito pernicioso o disfuncional del carácter Véase en vilo

Where the eye mixes vicio and vilo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vicio runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against vilo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
vicio
4 ch
vilo

Why the eye confuses vicio with vilo

A purely visual mix-up. vicio ([ˈbisjo]) and vilo ([ˈbilo]) 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 49070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vicio is recorded at frequency rank #7,938, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbisjo]. vilo is at rank #41,132, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbilo].

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 49070, this pair ranks #110,884 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vicio vs vilo

Shared letters: iov. Private to "vicio": c. Private to "vilo": l.

"vicio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vilo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vicio ← bicio · ivcio · vciio · viccio · vicoi · viico · visio · vvicio
  • vilo ← bilo · ivlo · villo · viol · vlio · vvilo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vicio" and "vilo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbisjo] versus [ˈbilo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vicio" or "vilo"?
"vicio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,938 in our Spanish list, against #41,132 for "vilo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vicio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,884 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vicio" and "vilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vilo vs visos". 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 #110,884 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