acosarvsacotarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,078
“acosar” frequency rank
#37,405
“acotar” frequency rank
64483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acosar acotar
Definition Perseguir con insistencia y empeño. Poner cotos a un terreno de modo que quede cercado o reservado para el uso por su dueño.

Where the eye mixes acosar and acotar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. acosar and acotar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
acosar
6 ch
acotar

Look-alike desk: acosar vs acotar

A purely visual mix-up. acosar ([akoˈsaɾ]) and acotar ([akoˈt̪aɾ]) 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 a single letter - s in “acosar” becomes t in “acotar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acosar is recorded at frequency rank #27,078, classified as averb, pronounced [akoˈsaɾ]. acotar is at rank #37,405, tagged as averb, pronounced [akoˈt̪aɾ].

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 64483, this pair ranks #45,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acosar vs acotar

Shared letters: acor. Private to "acosar": s. Private to "acotar": t.

"acosar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "acotar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acosar ← accosar · acoasr · acosarr · acosra · acossar · acsoar · aocsar · caosar
  • acotar ← accotar · acoatr · acotarr · acotra · acottar · actoar · aoctar · caotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acosar" and "acotar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([akoˈsaɾ] versus [akoˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "acosar" or "acotar" show up more?
"acosar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,078 in our Spanish list, against #37,405 for "acotar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "acosar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acosar" and "acotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acorta vs acotar". 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 #45,448 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