bravavsbravosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,293
“brava” frequency rank
#25,161
“bravos” frequency rank
40454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes brava and bravos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. brava runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against bravos's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
brava
6 ch
bravos

Look-alike desk: brava vs bravos

A purely visual mix-up. brava ([ˈbɾaβ̞a]) and bravos ([ˈbɾaβ̞os]) 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 40454, 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]. bravos is at rank #25,161, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɾaβ̞os].

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 40454, this pair ranks #158,992 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of brava vs bravos

Shared letters: abrv. Private to "brava": -. Private to "bravos": os.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brava ← barva · bbrava · braav · bravva · brrava · brvaa · rbava · vrava
  • bravos ← barvos · bbravos · brabos · braovs · bravoss · bravso · bravvos · brravos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "brava" for "bravos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɾaβ̞a] versus [ˈbɾaβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "brava" or "bravos" show up more?
"brava" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,293 in our Spanish list, against #25,161 for "bravos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "brava" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bravos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,992 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brava" and "bravos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brave vs bravos". 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 #158,992 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