bastosvsbultosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,518
“bastos” frequency rank
#32,998
“bultos” frequency rank
65516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bastos bultos
Definition En la baraja española, uno de los cuatro palos, representado por varas o bastones nudosos. Forma del plural de bulto.

Where the eye mixes bastos and bultos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bastos and bultos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
bastos
6 ch
bultos

Visual trap between bastos and bultos

A purely visual mix-up. bastos ([ˈbast̪os]) and bultos ([ˈbul̪t̪os]) 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 65516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bastos is recorded at frequency rank #32,518, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbast̪os]. bultos is at rank #32,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbul̪t̪os].

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 65516, this pair ranks #42,408 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bastos vs bultos

Shared letters: bost. Private to "bastos": a. Private to "bultos": lu.

"bastos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bultos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bastos ← abstos · basots · basstos · bastoss · bastso · basttos · batsos · bbastos
  • bultos ← bbultos · blutos · bulltos · bulots · bultoss · bultso · bulttos · butlos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bastos" and "bultos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbast̪os] versus [ˈbul̪t̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "bastos" or "bultos" show up more?
"bastos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,518 in our Spanish list, against #32,998 for "bultos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bastos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bultos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,408 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bastos" and "bultos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bardos vs bastos". 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 #42,408 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