amabasvsamableWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,369
“amabas” frequency rank
#4,052
“amable” frequency rank
47421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amabas amable
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de amar. Digno de ser amado.

Where the eye mixes amabas and amable

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

6 ch
amabas
6 ch
amable

Visual trap between amabas and amable

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amabas is [aˈmaβ̞as] while amable is [aˈmaβ̞le]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amabas is recorded at frequency rank #43,369, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈmaβ̞as]. amable is at rank #4,052, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aˈmaβ̞le].

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 47421, this pair ranks #120,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of amabas vs amable

Shared letters: abm. Private to "amabas": s. Private to "amable": el.

"amabas" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "amable" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amabasaambas · amaabs · amabass · amabbas · amabsa · amavas · ambaas · ammabas
  • amableaamble · amabble · amabel · amablle · amalbe · amavle · ambale · ammable

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "amabas" and "amable" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "amabas" is a verb and "amable" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "amabas" or "amable" show up more?
"amable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,052 in our Spanish list, against #43,369 for "amabas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "amabas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amabas" and "amable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amabas 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 #120,155 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