castigar vs castigo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“castigar” is a verb and “castigo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,268
“castigar” frequency rank: #6,743
“castigo” frequency rank: 36011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	castigar	castigo
Definition	aplicar castigo a	pena imposta a quem cometeu delito ou falta

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set castigar and castigo apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

castigar

7 ch

castigo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: castigar is /kɐʃ.ti.ˈɡaɾ/ while castigo is /kɐʃ.ˈti.ɡu/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

castigar is recorded at frequency rank #29,268, classified as averb, pronounced /kɐʃ.ti.ˈɡaɾ/. castigo is at rank #6,743, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɐʃ.ˈti.ɡu/.

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 36011, this pair ranks #30,901 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of castigar vs castigo

Shared letters: acgist. Private to "castigar": r. Private to "castigo": o.

"castigar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "castigo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

castigar ← acstigar · casitgar · casstigar · castgiar · castiagr · castigarr · castiggar · castigra
castigo ← acstigo · casitgo · casstigo · castgio · castiggo · castiog · casttigo · catsigo

Frequency comparison

castigar#29,268

castigo#6,743

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "castigar" and "castigo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "castigar" is a verb and "castigo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "castigar" or "castigo"?

"castigo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,743 in our Portuguese list, against #29,268 for "castigar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering castigar vs castigo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “castigar”; for a noun, it's “castigo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “castigar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable