abusanvsacosanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,831
“abusan” frequency rank
#35,324
“acosan” frequency rank
63155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abusan acosan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de abusar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acosar.

Where the eye mixes abusan and acosan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abusan and acosan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
abusan
6 ch
acosan

Why the eye confuses abusan with acosan

A purely visual mix-up. abusan ([aˈβ̞usãn]) and acosan ([aˈkosãn]) 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 63155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abusan is recorded at frequency rank #27,831, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞usãn]. acosan is at rank #35,324, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈkosãn].

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 63155, this pair ranks #49,662 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abusan vs acosan

Shared letters: ans. Private to "abusan": bu. Private to "acosan": co.

"abusan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "acosan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abusan ← abbusan · absuan · abuasn · abusann · abusna · abussan · aubsan · avusan
  • acosan ← accosan · acoasn · acosann · acosna · acossan · acsoan · aocsan · caosan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abusan" and "acosan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈβ̞usãn] versus [aˈkosãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "abusan" or "acosan" show up more?
"abusan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,831 in our Spanish list, against #35,324 for "acosan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abusan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acosan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,662 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abusan" and "acosan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acosan vs acuosa". 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 #49,662 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