acostarvsacostóConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,508
“acostar” frequency rank
#37,404
“acostó” frequency rank
62912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes acostar and acostó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. acostar runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against acostó's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
acostar
6 ch
acostó

Look-alike desk: acostar vs acostó

A purely visual mix-up. acostar ([akosˈt̪aɾ]) and acostó ([akosˈt̪o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acostar is recorded at frequency rank #25,508, classified as averb, pronounced [akosˈt̪aɾ]. acostó is at rank #37,404, tagged as averb, pronounced [akosˈt̪o].

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 62912, this pair ranks #50,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acostar vs acostó

Shared letters: acost. Private to "acostar": r. Private to "acostó": ó.

"acostar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "acostó" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acostar ← accostar · acosatr · acosstar · acostarr · acostra · acosttar · acotsar · acsotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acostar" and "acostó" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([akosˈt̪aɾ] versus [akosˈt̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "acostar" or "acostó" show up more?
"acostar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,508 in our Spanish list, against #37,404 for "acostó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "acostar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acostó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,448 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acostar" and "acostó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acorta vs acostó". 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 #50,448 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