aletasvsapestasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,882
“aletas” frequency rank
#40,646
“apestas” frequency rank
61528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aletas apestas
Definition Forma del plural de aleta. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de apestar.

Where the eye mixes aletas and apestas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
aletas
7 ch
apestas

Why the eye confuses aletas with apestas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aletas is [aˈlet̪as] while apestas is [aˈpest̪as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aletas is recorded at frequency rank #20,882, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈlet̪as]. apestas is at rank #40,646, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpest̪as].

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 61528, this pair ranks #55,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aletas vs apestas

Shared letters: aest. Private to "aletas": l. Private to "apestas": p.

"aletas" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apestas" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aletasaeltas · aleats · aletass · aletsa · alettas · alletas · alteas · laetas
  • apestasaepstas · apesats · apesstas · apestass · apestsa · apesttas · apetsas · appestas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aletas" for "apestas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aletas" is a noun and "apestas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "aletas" vs "apestas" - which ranks higher?
"aletas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,882 in our Spanish list, against #40,646 for "apestas". 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 "aletas" and "apestas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aletas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apestas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,134 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aletas" and "apestas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apestas vs atentas". 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 #55,134 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