AméricavsaveríaConfusable pair

Quick tell: América is a name, avería is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“América” is a name and “avería” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#735
“América” frequency rank
#23,314
“avería” frequency rank
24049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature América avería
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. Establecimiento o lugar donde se crían aves o pájaros para el beneficio humano.

Where the eye mixes América and avería

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. América runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against avería's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
América
6 ch
avería

Why the eye confuses América with avería

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: América is [aˈmeɾika] while avería is [aβ̞eˈɾia]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

América is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈmeɾika]. avería is at rank #23,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aβ̞eˈɾia].

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 24049, this pair ranks #242,935 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of América vs avería

Shared letters: ar. Private to "América": cimé. Private to "avería": eví.

"América" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "avería" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "América" for "avería" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "América" is a name and "avería" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "América" vs "avería" - which ranks higher?
"América" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #735 in our Spanish list, against #23,314 for "avería". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "América" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avería" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,935 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "América" and "avería" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avería vs azerí". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #242,935 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