buquevsbusquéWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,381
“buque” frequency rank
#11,367
“busqué” frequency rank
17748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature buque busqué
Definition Barco de gran tamaño usado como nave de guerra, transporte o comercio a grandes distancias. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de buscar.

Where the eye mixes buque and busqué

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
buque
6 ch
busqué

Visual trap between buque and busqué

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: buque is [ˈbuke] while busqué is [busˈke]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

buque is recorded at frequency rank #6,381, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbuke]. busqué is at rank #11,367, tagged as averb, pronounced [busˈke].

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 17748, this pair ranks #270,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of buque vs busqué

Shared letters: bqu. Private to "buque": e. Private to "busqué": .

"buque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "busqué" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • buquebbuque · bquue · buqeu · buqque · buuqe · ubque · vuque

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "buque" and "busqué" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "buque" is a noun and "busqué" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "buque" or "busqué" show up more?
"buque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,381 in our Spanish list, against #11,367 for "busqué". 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 "buque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "busqué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "buque" and "busqué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "busqué vs Busquets". 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 #270,863 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