viejosvsvisosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: viejos is a adjective, visos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“viejos” is an adjective and “visos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,142
“viejos” frequency rank
#48,755
“visos” frequency rank
50897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viejos visos
Definition Forma del plural de viejo. Forma del plural de viso.

Where the eye mixes viejos and visos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
viejos
5 ch
visos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: viejos is [ˈbjexos] while visos is [ˈbisos]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viejos is recorded at frequency rank #2,142, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbjexos]. visos is at rank #48,755, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbisos].

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 50897, this pair ranks #100,746 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of viejos vs visos

Shared letters: iosv. Private to "viejos": ej. Private to "visos": -.

"viejos" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "visos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viejosbiejos · ivejos · veijos · viejjos · viejoss · viejso · vieojs · vijeos
  • visosbisos · ivsos · vioss · visoss · vissos · vsios · vvisos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "viejos" and "visos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "viejos" is an adjective and "visos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "viejos" or "visos"?
"viejos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,142 in our Spanish list, against #48,755 for "visos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list