abogarvsacosarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,094
“abogar” frequency rank
#27,078
“acosar” frequency rank
67172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abogar acosar
Definition Defender y dar consejo a alguien que es objeto de un juicio o pleito legal. Perseguir con insistencia y empeño.

Where the eye mixes abogar and acosar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
abogar
6 ch
acosar

Why the eye confuses abogar with acosar

A purely visual mix-up. abogar ([aβ̞oˈɣ̞aɾ]) and acosar ([akoˈsaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abogar is recorded at frequency rank #40,094, classified as averb, pronounced [aβ̞oˈɣ̞aɾ]. acosar is at rank #27,078, tagged as averb, pronounced [akoˈsaɾ].

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 67172, this pair ranks #37,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abogar vs acosar

Shared letters: aor. Private to "abogar": bg. Private to "acosar": cs.

"abogar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "acosar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abogarabbogar · abgoar · aboagr · abogarr · aboggar · abogra · aobgar · avogar
  • acosaraccosar · acoasr · acosarr · acosra · acossar · acsoar · aocsar · caosar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abogar" for "acosar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aβ̞oˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [akoˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abogar" vs "acosar" - which ranks higher?
"acosar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,078 in our Spanish list, against #40,094 for "abogar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abogar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acosar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,846 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abogar" and "acosar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abogar vs azotar". 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 #37,846 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