aspiravsaspireTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,976
“aspira” frequency rank
#48,225
“aspire” frequency rank
61201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aspira aspire
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aspirar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de aspirar.

Where the eye mixes aspira and aspire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. aspira and aspire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
aspira
6 ch
aspire

Visual trap between aspira and aspire

A purely visual mix-up. aspira ([asˈpiɾa]) and aspire ([asˈpiɾe]) 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 a single letter - a in “aspira” becomes e in “aspire”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aspira is recorded at frequency rank #12,976, classified as averb, pronounced [asˈpiɾa]. aspire is at rank #48,225, tagged as averb, pronounced [asˈpiɾe].

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 61201, this pair ranks #56,297 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aspira vs aspire

Shared letters: aiprs. Private to "aspira": -. Private to "aspire": e.

"aspira" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "aspire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aspira ← apsira · asipra · aspiar · aspirra · asppira · aspria · asspira · sapira
  • aspire ← apsire · asipre · aspier · aspirre · asppire · asprie · asspire · sapire

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aspira" and "aspire" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([asˈpiɾa] versus [asˈpiɾe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "aspira" or "aspire" show up more?
"aspira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,976 in our Spanish list, against #48,225 for "aspire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aspira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aspire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,297 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aspira" and "aspire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aspire vs aspiro". 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 #56,297 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