acechavsafectaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,415
“acecha” frequency rank
#2,643
“afecta” frequency rank
37058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acecha afecta
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acechar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de afectar.

Where the eye mixes acecha and afecta

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

6 ch
acecha
6 ch
afecta

Visual trap between acecha and afecta

A purely visual mix-up. acecha ([aˈset͡ʃa]) and afecta ([aˈfekt̪a]) 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 37058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acecha is recorded at frequency rank #34,415, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈset͡ʃa]. afecta is at rank #2,643, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪a].

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 37058, this pair ranks #177,330 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acecha vs afecta

Shared letters: ace. Private to "acecha": h. Private to "afecta": ft.

"acecha" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "afecta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acechaaccecha · acceha · acecah · aceccha · acechha · acehca · aeccha · asecha
  • afectaaefcta · afceta · afecat · afeccta · afectta · afetca · affecta · faecta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "acecha" and "afecta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈset͡ʃa] versus [aˈfekt̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "acecha" vs "afecta" - which ranks higher?
"afecta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,643 in our Spanish list, against #34,415 for "acecha". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "acecha" and "afecta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acecha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "afecta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,330 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acecha" and "afecta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acecha vs acechan". 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 #177,330 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