aplacarvsaplazarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,347
“aplacar” frequency rank
#31,643
“aplazar” frequency rank
66990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aplacar aplazar
Definition Calmar o apaciguar el ánimo violento o excitado de una persona o grupo. Diferir una acción, con idea de realizarla más adelante.

Where the eye mixes aplacar and aplazar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. aplacar and aplazar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
aplacar
7 ch
aplazar

Why the eye confuses aplacar with aplazar

A purely visual mix-up. aplacar ([aplaˈkaɾ]) and aplazar ([aplaˈsaɾ]) 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 a single letter - c in “aplacar” becomes z in “aplazar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aplacar is recorded at frequency rank #35,347, classified as averb, pronounced [aplaˈkaɾ]. aplazar is at rank #31,643, tagged as averb, pronounced [aplaˈsaɾ].

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 66990, this pair ranks #38,318 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aplacar vs aplazar

Shared letters: alpr. Private to "aplacar": c. Private to "aplazar": z.

"aplacar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "aplazar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aplacar ← alpacar · apalcar · aplaacr · aplacarr · aplaccar · aplacra · aplcaar · apllacar
  • aplazar ← alpazar · apalzar · aplaazr · aplazarr · aplazra · aplazzar · apllazar · aplzaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aplacar" and "aplazar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aplaˈkaɾ] versus [aplaˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "aplacar" or "aplazar" show up more?
"aplazar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,643 in our Spanish list, against #35,347 for "aplacar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "aplacar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aplazar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,318 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aplacar" and "aplazar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aplacar vs atracar". 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 #38,318 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