violovsviudoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,326
“violo” frequency rank
#24,694
“viudo” frequency rank
68020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature violo viudo
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de violar. Persona cuyo cónyuge ha muerto y no se ha vuelto a casar.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
violo
5 ch
viudo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: violo is [ˈbjolo] while viudo is [ˈbjuð̞o]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

violo is recorded at frequency rank #43,326, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbjolo]. viudo is at rank #24,694, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbjuð̞o].

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 68020, this pair ranks #35,597 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of violo vs viudo

Shared letters: iov. Private to "violo": l. Private to "viudo": du.

"violo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "viudo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • violobiolo · ivolo · viloo · viollo · viool · voilo · vviolo
  • viudobiudo · ivudo · viduo · viuddo · viuod · vuido · vviudo

Frequency comparison

violo#43,326
viudo#24,694

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "violo" and "viudo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "violo" is a verb and "viudo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "violo" or "viudo"?
"viudo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,694 in our Spanish list, against #43,326 for "violo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering violo vs viudo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “violo”; for an adjective, it's “viudo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “violo” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list