autopistavsautopsiaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,372
“autopista” frequency rank
#17,352
“autopsia” frequency rank
22724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature autopista autopsia
Definition Carretera de uso público con calzadas independientes y más de un carril en cada sentido. Apertura y disección de un cadáver para conocer las causas de su muerte.

Where the eye mixes autopista and autopsia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. autopista runs 9 letters (VVCVCVCCV) against autopsia's 8 (VVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
autopista
8 ch
autopsia

Why the eye confuses autopista with autopsia

A purely visual mix-up. autopista ([awt̪oˈpist̪a]) and autopsia ([awˈt̪opsja]) 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 22724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

autopista is recorded at frequency rank #5,372, classified as anoun, pronounced [awt̪oˈpist̪a]. autopsia is at rank #17,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [awˈt̪opsja].

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 22724, this pair ranks #249,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of autopista vs autopsia

Shared letters: aiopstu. Private to "autopista": -. Private to "autopsia": -.

"autopista" · 9 letters · shape VVCVCVCCV  ·  "autopsia" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • autopista ← atuopista · auotpista · autoipsta · autopisat · autopissta · autopistta · autopitsa · autoppista
  • autopsia ← atuopsia · auotpsia · autopcia · autopisa · autoppsia · autopsai · autopssia · autospia

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "autopista" and "autopsia" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([awt̪oˈpist̪a] versus [awˈt̪opsja]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "autopista" vs "autopsia" - which ranks higher?
"autopista" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,372 in our Spanish list, against #17,352 for "autopsia". 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 "autopista" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "autopsia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "autopista" and "autopsia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "autopsia vs autopsias". 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 #249,017 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