Which to use
“América” is a name and “American” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #735
- “América” frequency rank
- #5,459
- “American” frequency rank
- 6194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | América | American |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Continente que se extiende en el hemisferio occidental de la Tierra desde el océano Ártico por el norte hasta casi el océano Antártico por el sur, por el océano Pacífico al oeste, y por el océano Atlántico al este. | Americano. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set América and American apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
América and American form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
América is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈmeɾika]. American is at rank #5,459, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kən/.
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 6194, this pair ranks #311,494 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "América" and "American" be used interchangeably?
Remembering América vs American
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “América”; for an adjective, it's “American”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “América” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable