ballesta

Name: ballesta, Spanish Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

[baˈʝest̪a]

/[baˈʝest̪a]/ noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“ballesta” has 11 generated spelling variants in the Spanish index at frequency #29,941. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,941
frequency rank, Spanish: 2,459
“B” headwords: 11
tracked misspellings: 3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Arma portátil antigua que lanza flechas y bodoques. Tiene forma de arco horizontal con un dispositivo que tensa y fija la cuerda.

Corpus desk

Index ES-ballesta · ballesta · Spanish

ballesta · rank #29,941 · 11 variants · 3 confusables

FREQ-MID #29,941
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
VAR-MID 11 variants
BOOK-MID 2,459
PHOTO-FINISH Baldwin

Nearest frequency peer: Baldwin (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

avioneta

70,064
bache

70,062
Baldwin

70,061
ballesta

70,060
banquetes

70,059
Becky

70,057

What this shows “ballesta” está entre estos pares FrequencyWords; la profundidad de typo se mide aparte en el gráfico de distancia de edición.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ballesta vs ballet

75% similar

ballesta vs Ballester

67% similar

ballesta vs ballena

75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ballesta
Property	Value
Headword	ballesta
Language	Spanish
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	[baˈʝest̪a]
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#29,941
Misspellings tracked	11
Confusable pairs	3
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frecuencia del imán ortográfico “ballesta”

La frecuencia va del puñado de palabras que usamos sin parar (izquierda) a la cola larga que apenas aparece (derecha).ballestacae aquí:

#29,941

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

La escala es logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× más rara). En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “Baldwin” (#29,940), “banquetes” (#29,942), “bache” (#29,939). Entre 2,459 lemas con “B”, “ballesta” va en #29,941. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around ballesta (IPA [baˈʝest̪a]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,941 among 2,459 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for ballesta, with forms such as "abllesta", "balelsta", and "balesta". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "ballet", "Ballester", "ballena", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is ballesta, spelled B-A-L-L-E-S-T-A.

Definition

1
Arma portátil antigua que lanza flechas y bodoques. Tiene forma de arco horizontal con un dispositivo que tensa y fija la cuerda.
2
Pieza de la suspensión de los vehículos que soporta el peso de la carrocería.
3
Arma pesada antigua para lanzar flechas gruesas y piedras.
4
Trampa para cazar pájaros.

This word in other languages

crossbow(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

abllesta
balelsta
balesta
ballesat
ballessta
ballestta
balletsa
ballseta
bballesta
blalesta
vallesta

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ballesta - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

Edit distance from "ballesta"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ballesta"?

"ballesta" is spelled B-A-L-L-E-S-T-A. The IPA pronunciation is [baˈʝest̪a].

What does "ballesta" mean?

As a noun, "ballesta" means: Arma portátil antigua que lanza flechas y bodoques. Tiene forma de arco horizontal con un dispositivo que tensa y fija la cuerda.

What words are commonly confused with "ballesta"?

"ballesta" is commonly confused with "ballet", "Ballester", "ballena". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "ballesta"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ballesta" is [baˈʝest̪a]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "ballesta" come from?

"ballesta" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ballesta", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

avioneta#29,937 borrados#29,950 bíblicas#29,953 cabecita#29,954

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

Belinda11 variants Bernabé11 variants atroces11 variants calurosa11 variants