árabevsareWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: árabe is a adjective, are is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“árabe” is an adjective and “are” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,530
“árabe” frequency rank
#6,261
“are” frequency rank
9791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature árabe are
Definition Propio de, relativo o perteneciente al grupo étnico de habla semítica, originario de la península arábiga y los territorios circundantes, que habla el idioma árabe₅ y cuya población se concentra principalmente en el norte de África y en Oriente Medio. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de arar.

Where the eye mixes árabe and are

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

5 ch
árabe
3 ch
are

Visual trap between árabe and are

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: árabe is [ˈaɾaβ̞e] while are is [ˈaɾe]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

árabe is recorded at frequency rank #3,530, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɾaβ̞e]. are is at rank #6,261, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɾe].

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 9791, this pair ranks #300,811 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of árabe vs are

Shared letters: aer. Private to "árabe": . Private to "are": -.

"árabe" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "árabe" and "are" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "árabe" is an adjective and "are" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "árabe" or "are" show up more?
"árabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,530 in our Spanish list, against #6,261 for "are". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "árabe" and "are" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "árabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,811 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "árabe" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abed vs are". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #300,811 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