arribarvsArribasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: arribar is a verb, Arribas is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arribar” is a verb and “Arribas” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,356
“arribar” frequency rank
#41,196
“Arribas” frequency rank
76552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arribar Arribas
Definition Llegar la nave al puerto en que termina su viaje. Apellido.

Where the eye mixes arribar and Arribas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
arribar
7 ch
Arribas

Why the eye confuses arribar with Arribas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arribar is [ariˈβ̞aɾ] while Arribas is [aˈriβ̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “arribar” becomes s in “Arribas”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arribar is recorded at frequency rank #35,356, classified as averb, pronounced [ariˈβ̞aɾ]. Arribas is at rank #41,196, tagged as aname, pronounced [aˈriβ̞as].

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 76552, this pair ranks #17,551 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of arribar vs Arribas

Shared letters: abir. Private to "arribar": -. Private to "Arribas": s.

"arribar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "Arribas" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arribararibar · arirbar · arrbiar · arriabr · arribarr · arribbar · arribra · arrivar
  • Arribasaribas · arirbas · arrbias · arriabs · arribass · arribbas · arribsa · arrivas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arribar" for "Arribas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arribar" is a verb and "Arribas" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "arribar" or "Arribas" show up more?
"arribar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,356 in our Spanish list, against #41,196 for "Arribas". 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 "arribar" and "Arribas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arribar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Arribas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,551 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arribar" and "Arribas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Arras vs Arribas". 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 #17,551 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