acabavsavalaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,232
“acaba” frequency rank
#27,874
“avala” frequency rank
29106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acaba avala
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acabar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de avalar.

Where the eye mixes acaba and avala

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
acaba
5 ch
avala

Visual trap between acaba and avala

A purely visual mix-up. acaba ([aˈkaβ̞a]) and avala ([aˈβ̞ala]) 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 29106, 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]. avala is at rank #27,874, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞ala].

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 29106, this pair ranks #218,662 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acaba vs avala

Shared letters: a. Private to "acaba": bc. Private to "avala": lv.

"acaba" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "avala" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acabaaacba · acaab · acabba · acava · acbaa · accaba · caaba
  • avalaaavla · abala · avaal · avalla · avlaa · avvala · vaala

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acaba" and "avala" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈkaβ̞a] versus [aˈβ̞ala]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acaba" or "avala"?
"acaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,232 in our Spanish list, against #27,874 for "avala". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "acaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avala" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #218,662 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acaba" and "avala" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avala vs avalar". 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 #218,662 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