acostumbravsacostumbradoConfusable pair

Quick tell: acostumbra is a verb, acostumbrado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“acostumbra” is a verb and “acostumbrado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,745
“acostumbra” frequency rank
#6,252
“acostumbrado” frequency rank
20997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acostumbra acostumbrado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acostumbrar o de acostumbrarse. Que es lo normal a fuerza de costumbre.

Where the eye mixes acostumbra and acostumbrado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. acostumbra runs 10 letters (VCVCCVCCCV) against acostumbrado's 12 (VCVCCVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
acostumbra
12 ch
acostumbrado

Look-alike desk: acostumbra vs acostumbrado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acostumbra is [akosˈt̪ũmbɾa] while acostumbrado is [akost̪ũmˈbɾað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “acostumbra” sits inside “acostumbrado”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acostumbra is recorded at frequency rank #14,745, classified as averb, pronounced [akosˈt̪ũmbɾa]. acostumbrado is at rank #6,252, tagged as anadj, pronounced [akost̪ũmˈbɾað̞o].

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 20997, this pair ranks #256,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of acostumbra vs acostumbrado

Shared letters: abcmorstu. Private to "acostumbra": -. Private to "acostumbrado": d.

"acostumbra" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCV  ·  "acostumbrado" · 12 letters · shape VCVCCVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acostumbraaccostumbra · acosstumbra · acostmubra · acosttumbra · acostubmra · acostumbar · acostumbbra · acostumbrra
  • acostumbradoaccostumbrado · acosstumbrado · acostmubrado · acosttumbrado · acostubmrado · acostumbardo · acostumbbrado · acostumbraddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "acostumbra" for "acostumbrado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acostumbra" is a verb and "acostumbrado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "acostumbra" vs "acostumbrado" - which ranks higher?
"acostumbrado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,252 in our Spanish list, against #14,745 for "acostumbra". 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 "acostumbra" and "acostumbrado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acostumbra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acostumbrado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #256,856 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acostumbra" and "acostumbrado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acostumbra vs acostumbre". 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 #256,856 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