acosavsacostarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,908
“acosa” frequency rank
#25,508
“acostar” frequency rank
59416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acosa acostar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acosar. Echar o tender a alguno para que duerma o descanse, y con especialidad en la cama.

Where the eye mixes acosa and acostar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. acosa runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against acostar's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
acosa
7 ch
acostar

Visual trap between acosa and acostar

A purely visual mix-up. acosa ([aˈkosa]) and acostar ([akosˈt̪aɾ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acosa is recorded at frequency rank #33,908, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈkosa]. acostar is at rank #25,508, tagged as averb, pronounced [akosˈt̪aɾ].

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 59416, this pair ranks #62,705 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acosa vs acostar

Shared letters: acos. Private to "acosa": -. Private to "acostar": rt.

"acosa" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "acostar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acosa ← accosa · acoas · acossa · acsoa · aocsa · caosa
  • acostar ← accostar · acosatr · acosstar · acostarr · acostra · acosttar · acotsar · acsotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acosa" and "acostar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈkosa] versus [akosˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acosa" or "acostar"?
"acostar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,508 in our Spanish list, against #33,908 for "acosa". 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 "acosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acostar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,705 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acosa" and "acostar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acosa vs acuosa". 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 #62,705 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