viudovsvudúWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,694
“viudo” frequency rank
#35,823
“vudú” frequency rank
60517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viudo vudú
Definition Persona cuyo cónyuge ha muerto y no se ha vuelto a casar. Religión que se originó a partir de las creencias que poseían los pueblos que fueron trasladados como esclavos desde el África Occidental y del contacto de estas creencias con la religión cristiana propia de los esclavistas. Se trata de una variante teísta de un sistema animista, provisto de un fuerte componente mágico. Por su vinculación directa con la cosmología y los sistemas de creencias neolíticos, su estudio resulta de gran interés en el campo de la paleoantropología. El vudú se cuenta entre las religiones más antiguas del mundo.

Where the eye mixes viudo and vudú

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

5 ch
viudo
4 ch
vudú

Why the eye confuses viudo with vudú

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: viudo is [ˈbjuð̞o] while vudú is [buˈð̞u]. 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 60517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viudo is recorded at frequency rank #24,694, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbjuð̞o]. vudú is at rank #35,823, tagged as anoun, pronounced [buˈð̞u].

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 60517, this pair ranks #58,656 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of viudo vs vudú

Shared letters: duv. Private to "viudo": io. Private to "vudú": ú.

"viudo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "vudú" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viudo ← biudo · ivudo · viduo · viuddo · viuod · vuido · vviudo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "viudo" and "vudú" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "viudo" is an adjective and "vudú" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "viudo" vs "vudú" - which ranks higher?
"viudo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,694 in our Spanish list, against #35,823 for "vudú". 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 "viudo" and "vudú" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "viudo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vudú" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,656 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "viudo" and "vudú" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ved vs vudú". 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 #58,656 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