Which to use
“acaba” and “acababa” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,232
- “acaba” frequency rank
- #8,606
- “acababa” frequency rank
- 9838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acaba | acababa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acabar. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de acabar. |
Where the eye mixes acaba and acababa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between acaba and acababa
A purely visual mix-up. acaba ([aˈkaβ̞a]) and acababa ([akaˈβ̞aβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “acaba” sits inside “acababa”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acaba is recorded at frequency rank #1,232, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈkaβ̞a]. acababa is at rank #8,606, tagged as averb, pronounced [akaˈβ̞aβ̞a].
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 9838, this pair ranks #300,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of acaba vs acababa
Shared letters: abc. Private to "acaba": -. Private to "acababa": -.
"acaba" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "acababa" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "acaba" and "acababa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "acaba" or "acababa" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "acaba" and "acababa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "acaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "acababa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acaba" and "acababa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acababa vs acabase". 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 #300,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.