cantasvscultasConfusable pair

Quick tell: cantas is a verb, cultas is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cantas” is a verb and “cultas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,089
“cantas” frequency rank
#48,331
“cultas” frequency rank
77420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cantas cultas
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de cantar. Forma del femenino plural de culto.

Where the eye mixes cantas and cultas

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

6 ch
cantas
6 ch
cultas

Look-alike desk: cantas vs cultas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cantas is [ˈkãn̪t̪as] while cultas is [ˈkul̪t̪as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cantas is recorded at frequency rank #29,089, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkãn̪t̪as]. cultas is at rank #48,331, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkul̪t̪as].

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 77420, this pair ranks #16,044 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cantas vs cultas

Shared letters: acst. Private to "cantas": n. Private to "cultas": lu.

"cantas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cultas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cantas ← acntas · canats · canntas · cantass · cantsa · canttas · catnas · ccantas
  • cultas ← ccultas · clutas · culats · culltas · cultass · cultsa · culttas · cutlas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cantas" for "cultas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cantas" is a verb and "cultas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cantas" or "cultas" show up more?
"cantas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,089 in our Spanish list, against #48,331 for "cultas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cantas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cultas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,044 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cantas" and "cultas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cult vs cultas". 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 #16,044 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