arcavsarepaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,304
“arca” frequency rank
#30,761
“arepa” frequency rank
43065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arca arepa
Definition Caja que puede tener distintos tamaños, generalmente de madera, cuya tapa se asegura con bisagras por uno de sus lados y que suele cerrarse con cerradura y candado. Suele estar muy ornamentada y a veces reposa sobre un pequeño podium. Tipo de tortilla plana y redonda hecha de harina de maíz y tostada sobre una plancha o budare.

Where the eye mixes arca and arepa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. arca runs 4 letters (VCCV) against arepa's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
arca
5 ch
arepa

Look-alike desk: arca vs arepa

A purely visual mix-up. arca ([ˈaɾka]) and arepa ([aˈɾepa]) 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 43065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arca is recorded at frequency rank #12,304, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɾka]. arepa is at rank #30,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈɾepa].

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 43065, this pair ranks #144,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arca vs arepa

Shared letters: ar. Private to "arca": c. Private to "arepa": ep.

"arca" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "arepa" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arca ← arac · arcca · arrca · raca
  • arepa ← aerpa · areap · areppa · arpea · arrepa · raepa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arca" for "arepa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɾka] versus [aˈɾepa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "arca" vs "arepa" - which ranks higher?
"arca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,304 in our Spanish list, against #30,761 for "arepa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "arca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arepa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arca" and "arepa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ardía vs arepa". 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 #144,722 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