acariciavsacariciarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,612
“acaricia” frequency rank
#26,287
“acariciar” frequency rank
57899
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acaricia acariciar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acariciar. Pasar suavemente la mano o los dedos sobre el cuerpo de una persona o animal, como demostración de afecto.

Where the eye mixes acaricia and acariciar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. acaricia runs 8 letters (VCVCVCVV) against acariciar's 9 (VCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
acaricia
9 ch
acariciar

Visual trap between acaricia and acariciar

A purely visual mix-up. acaricia ([akaˈɾisja]) and acariciar ([akaɾiˈsjaɾ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “acaricia” sits inside “acariciar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acaricia is recorded at frequency rank #31,612, classified as averb, pronounced [akaˈɾisja]. acariciar is at rank #26,287, tagged as averb, pronounced [akaɾiˈsjaɾ].

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 57899, this pair ranks #68,617 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acaricia vs acariciar

Shared letters: acir. Private to "acaricia": -. Private to "acariciar": -.

"acaricia" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV  ·  "acariciar" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acaricia ← aacricia · acaircia · acarciia · acaricai · acariccia · acariica · acarisia · acarricia
  • acariciar ← aacriciar · acairciar · acarciiar · acaricair · acaricciar · acariciarr · acaricira · acariicar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "acaricia" and "acariciar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([akaˈɾisja] versus [akaɾiˈsjaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "acaricia" vs "acariciar" - which ranks higher?
"acariciar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,287 in our Spanish list, against #31,612 for "acaricia". 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 "acaricia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acariciar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,617 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acaricia" and "acariciar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acaricia vs acariciaba". 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 #68,617 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