abusarvsacusanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,264
“abusar” frequency rank
#9,928
“acusan” frequency rank
24192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abusar acusan
Definition Hacer uso inapropiado, excesivo o injusto de algo. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acusar o de acusarse.

Where the eye mixes abusar and acusan

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

6 ch
abusar
6 ch
acusan

Visual trap between abusar and acusan

A purely visual mix-up. abusar ([aβ̞uˈsaɾ]) and acusan ([aˈkusãn]) 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 24192, 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]. acusan is at rank #9,928, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈkusãn].

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 24192, this pair ranks #242,314 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abusar vs acusan

Shared letters: asu. Private to "abusar": br. Private to "acusan": cn.

"abusar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "acusan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abusarabbusar · absuar · abuasr · abusarr · abusra · abussar · aubsar · avusar
  • acusanaccusan · acsuan · acuasn · acusann · acusna · acussan · aucsan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abusar" for "acusan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aβ̞uˈsaɾ] versus [aˈkusãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "abusar" or "acusan" show up more?
"acusan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,928 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.

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 "abusar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acusan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,314 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abusar" and "acusan" 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 #242,314 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