amabasvsAmayaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: amabas is a verb, Amaya is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#43,369
“amabas” frequency rank
#27,476
“Amaya” frequency rank
70845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amabas Amaya
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de amar. Apellido.

Where the eye mixes amabas and Amaya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. amabas runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against Amaya's 5 (VCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
amabas
5 ch
Amaya

Look-alike desk: amabas vs Amaya

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amabas is [aˈmaβ̞as] while Amaya is [aˈmaʝa]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70845, 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]. Amaya is at rank #27,476, tagged as aname, pronounced [aˈmaʝa].

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 70845, this pair ranks #28,791 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of amabas vs Amaya

Shared letters: am. Private to "amabas": bs. Private to "Amaya": y.

"amabas" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "Amaya" · 5 letters · shape VCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amabas ← aambas · amaabs · amabass · amabbas · amabsa · amavas · ambaas · ammabas
  • Amaya ← aamya · amaay · amayya · ammaya · amyaa · maaya

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "amabas" and "Amaya" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "amabas" is a verb and "Amaya" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "amabas" or "Amaya" show up more?
"Amaya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,476 in our Spanish list, against #43,369 for "amabas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "amabas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Amaya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,791 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amabas" and "Amaya" 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 #28,791 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