ardillavsardillasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,940
“ardilla” frequency rank
#33,422
“ardillas” frequency rank
56362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ardilla ardillas
Definition (Sciuridae) Cualquiera de varias especies de mamíferos roedores, de hábitos terrestres o arborícolas, caracterizados por poseer una cola voluminosa y peluda; no constituyen un clado filogenético, formando parte de la misma familia que incluye también las marmotas. Forma del plural de ardilla.

Where the eye mixes ardilla and ardillas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ardilla runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against ardillas's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
ardilla
8 ch
ardillas

Why the eye confuses ardilla with ardillas

A purely visual mix-up. ardilla ([aɾˈð̞iʝa]) and ardillas ([aɾˈð̞iʝas]) 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 extra letter(s) - “ardilla” sits inside “ardillas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ardilla is recorded at frequency rank #22,940, classified as anoun, pronounced [aɾˈð̞iʝa]. ardillas is at rank #33,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aɾˈð̞iʝas].

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 56362, this pair ranks #74,928 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ardilla vs ardillas

Shared letters: adilr. Private to "ardilla": -. Private to "ardillas": s.

"ardilla" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "ardillas" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ardillaadrilla · arddilla · ardila · ardilal · ardlila · aridlla · arrdilla · radilla
  • ardillasadrillas · arddillas · ardilals · ardilas · ardillass · ardillsa · ardlilas · aridllas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ardilla" and "ardillas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aɾˈð̞iʝa] versus [aɾˈð̞iʝas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ardilla" or "ardillas" show up more?
"ardilla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,940 in our Spanish list, against #33,422 for "ardillas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ardilla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ardillas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,928 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ardilla" and "ardillas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ardillas vs astillas". 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 #74,928 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