armsvsasmaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,745
“arms” frequency rank
#15,015
“asma” frequency rank
60760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arms asma
Definition Escudo. Enfermedad inflamatoria del aparato respiratorio que provoca dificultad en la respiración (disnea).

Where the eye mixes arms and asma

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

4 ch
arms
4 ch
asma

Visual trap between arms and asma

A purely visual mix-up. arms (/ɑɹmz/) and asma ([ˈasma]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arms is recorded at frequency rank #45,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɑɹmz/. asma is at rank #15,015, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈasma].

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 60760, this pair ranks #57,834 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of arms vs asma

Shared letters: ams. Private to "arms": r. Private to "asma": -.

"arms" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "asma" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • armsarmms · armss · arrms · arsm · rams
  • asmaasam · asmma · assma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "arms" and "asma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɑɹmz/ versus [ˈasma]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "arms" or "asma"?
"asma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,015 in our Spanish list, against #45,745 for "arms". 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 "arms" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,834 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arms" and "asma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs arms". 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 #57,834 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