vigíavsVilmaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vigía is a verb, Vilma is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vigía” is a verb and “Vilma” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,154
“vigía” frequency rank
#40,069
“Vilma” frequency rank
71223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vigía Vilma
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de vigiar. Nombre de pila de mujer

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set vigía and Vilma apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
vigía
5 ch
Vilma

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vigía is [biˈxia] while Vilma is [ˈbilma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vigía is recorded at frequency rank #31,154, classified as averb, pronounced [biˈxia]. Vilma is at rank #40,069, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈbilma].

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 71223, this pair ranks #27,963 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vigía vs Vilma

Shared letters: aiv. Private to "vigía": . Private to "Vilma": lm.

"vigía" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "Vilma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Vilmabilma · ivlma · vilam · villma · vilmma · vimla · vlima · vvilma

Frequency comparison

vigía#31,154
Vilma#40,069

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vigía" and "Vilma" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vigía" is a verb and "Vilma" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vigía" or "Vilma"?
"vigía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,154 in our Spanish list, against #40,069 for "Vilma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vigía vs Vilma

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “vigía”; for a name, it's “Vilma”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vigía” 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