afectavsaferraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,643
“afecta” frequency rank
#32,055
“aferra” frequency rank
34698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afecta aferra
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de afectar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aferrar o de aferrarse.

Where the eye mixes afecta and aferra

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

6 ch
afecta
6 ch
aferra

Look-alike desk: afecta vs aferra

A purely visual mix-up. afecta ([aˈfekt̪a]) and aferra ([aˈfera]) 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 34698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

afecta is recorded at frequency rank #2,643, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪a]. aferra is at rank #32,055, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈfera].

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 34698, this pair ranks #190,062 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of afecta vs aferra

Shared letters: aef. Private to "afecta": ct. Private to "aferra": r.

"afecta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "aferra" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afectaaefcta · afceta · afecat · afeccta · afectta · afetca · affecta · faecta
  • aferraaefrra · afera · aferar · afferra · afrera · faerra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "afecta" and "aferra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈfekt̪a] versus [aˈfera]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "afecta" or "aferra" show up more?
"afecta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,643 in our Spanish list, against #32,055 for "aferra". 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 "afecta" and "aferra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "afecta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aferra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,062 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "afecta" and "aferra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aferra vs amarra". 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 #190,062 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