bravavsbravasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,293
“brava” frequency rank
#31,239
“bravas” frequency rank
46532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brava bravas
Definition Forma del femenino de bravo. Forma del femenino plural de bravo.

Where the eye mixes brava and bravas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. brava runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against bravas's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
brava
6 ch
bravas

Visual trap between brava and bravas

A purely visual mix-up. brava ([ˈbɾaβ̞a]) and bravas ([ˈbɾaβ̞as]) 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 extra letter(s) - “brava” sits inside “bravas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brava is recorded at frequency rank #15,293, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɾaβ̞a]. bravas is at rank #31,239, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɾaβ̞as].

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 46532, this pair ranks #125,182 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brava vs bravas

Shared letters: abrv. Private to "brava": -. Private to "bravas": s.

"brava" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "bravas" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brava ← barva · bbrava · braav · bravva · brrava · brvaa · rbava · vrava
  • bravas ← barvas · bbravas · braavs · brabas · bravass · bravsa · bravvas · brravas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brava" and "bravas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɾaβ̞a] versus [ˈbɾaβ̞as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "brava" or "bravas" show up more?
"brava" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,293 in our Spanish list, against #31,239 for "bravas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "brava" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bravas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,182 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brava" and "bravas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "basas vs bravas". 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 #125,182 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