bardavsbastaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,154
“barda” frequency rank
#1,468
“basta” frequency rank
41622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barda basta
Definition Seto, vallado o tapia que delimita un terreno de otro. Hilván que dan en la ropa los sastres, modistas y costureras, para que salgan bien derechas las costuras.

Where the eye mixes barda and basta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
barda
5 ch
basta

Why the eye confuses barda with basta

A purely visual mix-up. barda ([ˈbaɾð̞a]) and basta ([ˈbast̪a]) 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 41622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barda is recorded at frequency rank #40,154, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbaɾð̞a]. basta is at rank #1,468, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbast̪a].

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 41622, this pair ranks #152,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of barda vs basta

Shared letters: ab. Private to "barda": dr. Private to "basta": st.

"barda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "basta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bardaabrda · badra · barad · bardda · barrda · bbarda · brada · varda
  • bastaabsta · basat · bassta · bastta · batsa · bbasta · bsata

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "barda" and "basta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaɾð̞a] versus [ˈbast̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "barda" or "basta"?
"basta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,468 in our Spanish list, against #40,154 for "barda". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "barda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "basta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barda" and "basta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "barda vs bardos". 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 #152,661 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