aparecevsapretéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aparece” and “apreté” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,188
“aparece” frequency rank
#49,426
“apreté” frequency rank
50614
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aparece apreté
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aparecer o de aparecerse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de apretar.

Where the eye mixes aparece and apreté

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aparece runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against apreté's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
aparece
6 ch
apreté

Visual trap between aparece and apreté

A purely visual mix-up. aparece ([apaˈɾese]) and apreté ([apɾeˈt̪e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aparece is recorded at frequency rank #1,188, classified as averb, pronounced [apaˈɾese]. apreté is at rank #49,426, tagged as averb, pronounced [apɾeˈt̪e].

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 50614, this pair ranks #102,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aparece vs apreté

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "aparece": c. Private to "apreté": té.

"aparece" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "apreté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aparece ← aaprece · apaerce · aparcee · aparecce · apareec · aparese · aparrece · apparece

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aparece" for "apreté" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([apaˈɾese] versus [apɾeˈt̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aparece" or "apreté"?
"aparece" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,188 in our Spanish list, against #49,426 for "apreté". 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 "aparece" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apreté" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aparece" and "apreté" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agreste vs apreté". 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 #102,253 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