aferravsamarraWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: aferra is a verb, amarra is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aferra” is a verb and “amarra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,055
“aferra” frequency rank
#49,408
“amarra” frequency rank
81463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aferra amarra
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aferrar o de aferrarse. Correa que va desde la muserola al pretal, y se pone a los caballos para que no levanten la cabeza.

Where the eye mixes aferra and amarra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aferra and amarra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
aferra
6 ch
amarra

Visual trap between aferra and amarra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aferra is [aˈfera] while amarra is [aˈmara]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aferra is recorded at frequency rank #32,055, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈfera]. amarra is at rank #49,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈmara].

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 81463, this pair ranks #10,374 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aferra vs amarra

Shared letters: ar. Private to "aferra": ef. Private to "amarra": m.

"aferra" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "amarra" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aferra ← aefrra · afera · aferar · afferra · afrera · faerra
  • amarra ← aamrra · ammarra · amrara · maarra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aferra" and "amarra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aferra" is a verb and "amarra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aferra" or "amarra"?
"aferra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,055 in our Spanish list, against #49,408 for "amarra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aferra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amarra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,374 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aferra" and "amarra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amarra vs amarras". 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 #10,374 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