abusarvsabusosWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: abusar is a verb, abusos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#14,264
“abusar” frequency rank
#5,362
“abusos” frequency rank
19626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abusar abusos
Definition Hacer uso inapropiado, excesivo o injusto de algo. Forma del plural de abuso.

Where the eye mixes abusar and abusos

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

6 ch
abusar
6 ch
abusos

Visual trap between abusar and abusos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abusar is [aβ̞uˈsaɾ] while abusos is [aˈβ̞usos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19626, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abusar is recorded at frequency rank #14,264, classified as averb, pronounced [aβ̞uˈsaɾ]. abusos is at rank #5,362, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈβ̞usos].

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 19626, this pair ranks #262,929 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abusar vs abusos

Shared letters: absu. Private to "abusar": r. Private to "abusos": o.

"abusar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "abusos" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abusarabbusar · absuar · abuasr · abusarr · abusra · abussar · aubsar · avusar
  • abusosabbusos · absuos · abuoss · abusoss · abussos · aubsos · avusos · bausos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abusar" and "abusos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abusar" is a verb and "abusos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "abusar" or "abusos" show up more?
"abusos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,362 in our Spanish list, against #14,264 for "abusar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abusar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abusos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,929 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abusar" and "abusos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abusar vs abusaron". 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 #262,929 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