bebervsbeséConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,984
“beber” frequency rank
#41,760
“besé” frequency rank
45744
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beber besé
Definition Ingerir líquidos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de besar.

Where the eye mixes beber and besé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
beber
4 ch
besé

Look-alike desk: beber vs besé

A purely visual mix-up. beber ([beˈβ̞eɾ]) and besé ([beˈse]) 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 45744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beber is recorded at frequency rank #3,984, classified as averb, pronounced [beˈβ̞eɾ]. besé is at rank #41,760, tagged as averb, pronounced [beˈse].

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 45744, this pair ranks #129,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of beber vs besé

Shared letters: be. Private to "beber": r. Private to "besé": .

"beber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "besé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beberbbeber · bbeer · bebber · beberr · bebre · beebr · ebber · vever

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beber" and "besé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([beˈβ̞eɾ] versus [beˈse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "beber" or "besé"?
"beber" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,984 in our Spanish list, against #41,760 for "besé". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "besé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,659 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beber" and "besé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "besé vs brie". 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 #129,659 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