bastavsbrotaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: basta is a noun, brota is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“basta” is a noun and “brota” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,468
“basta” frequency rank
#33,458
“brota” frequency rank
34926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature basta brota
Definition Hilván que dan en la ropa los sastres, modistas y costureras, para que salgan bien derechas las costuras. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de brotar.

Where the eye mixes basta and brota

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

5 ch
basta
5 ch
brota

Visual trap between basta and brota

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: basta is [ˈbast̪a] while brota is [ˈbɾot̪a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

basta is recorded at frequency rank #1,468, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbast̪a]. brota is at rank #33,458, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɾot̪a].

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 34926, this pair ranks #188,812 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of basta vs brota

Shared letters: abt. Private to "basta": s. Private to "brota": or.

"basta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "brota" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bastaabsta · basat · bassta · bastta · batsa · bbasta · bsata
  • brotabbrota · borta · broat · brotta · brrota · brtoa · rbota · vrota

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "basta" for "brota" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "basta" is a noun and "brota" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "basta" or "brota"?
"basta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,468 in our Spanish list, against #33,458 for "brota". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "basta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,812 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "basta" and "brota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Boya vs brota". 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 #188,812 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