apevsarteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,736
“ape” frequency rank
#640
“arte” frequency rank
46376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape arte
Definition Espalda. Manifestación de la actividad humana de representar una idea real o imaginaria, utilizando para ello los medios que tiene a su alcance.

Where the eye mixes ape and arte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ape
4 ch
arte

Visual trap between ape and arte

A purely visual mix-up. ape ([aˈpe]) and arte ([ˈaɾt̪e]) 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 46376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ape is recorded at frequency rank #45,736, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈpe]. arte is at rank #640, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɾt̪e].

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 46376, this pair ranks #126,089 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs arte

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ape": p. Private to "arte": rt.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "arte" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • artearet · arrte · artte · atre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ape" for "arte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpe] versus [ˈaɾt̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ape" vs "arte" - which ranks higher?
"arte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #640 in our Spanish list, against #45,736 for "ape". 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 "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,089 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "arte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ape vs apis". 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 #126,089 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