vosvsvousConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#493
“vos” frequency rank
#32,035
“vous” frequency rank
32528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vos vous
Definition Pronombre personal formal y hoy arcaico de la segunda persona del singular y del plural; el paradigma verbal está plenamente asimilado al de vosotros. Vosotros, ustedes

Where the eye mixes vos and vous

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
vos
4 ch
vous

Visual trap between vos and vous

A purely visual mix-up. vos ([ˈbos]) and vous ([vu]) 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 32528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vos is recorded at frequency rank #493, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈbos]. vous is at rank #32,035, tagged as apron, pronounced [vu].

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 32528, this pair ranks #201,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vos vs vous

Shared letters: osv. Private to "vos": -. Private to "vous": u.

"vos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "vous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vousbous · ovus · vosu · vouss · vuos · vvous

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vos" for "vous" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbos] versus [vu]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "vos" or "vous" show up more?
"vos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #493 in our Spanish list, against #32,035 for "vous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vos" and "vous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "VOR vs vous". 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 #201,506 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