vidvsviloWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,480
“vid” frequency rank
#41,132
“vilo” frequency rank
57612
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vid vilo
Definition (Vitis spp.) Planta de la familia de las vitáceas, con tronco retorcido, llamado cepa, vástagos nudosos y flexibles, llamados sarmientos, hojas alternas, pecioladas, grandes y pentalobuladas, llamadas pámpanos, flores verdosas en racimos, y cuyo fruto es la uva. Originaria de Asia, se cultiva en todas las regiones templadas Véase en vilo

Where the eye mixes vid and vilo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. vid runs 3 letters (CVC) against vilo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
vid
4 ch
vilo

Visual trap between vid and vilo

A purely visual mix-up. vid ([ˈbið̞]) 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 57612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vid is recorded at frequency rank #16,480, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbið̞]. 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 57612, this pair ranks #69,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vid vs vilo

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vid": d. Private to "vilo": lo.

"vid" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vilo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vilo ← bilo · ivlo · villo · viol · vlio · vvilo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vid" for "vilo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbið̞] versus [ˈbilo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vid" or "vilo" show up more?
"vid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,480 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.

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 "vid" 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 #69,789 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vid" 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 #69,789 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