cercanasvscercaníaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cercanas is a adjective, cercanía is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cercanas” is an adjective and “cercanía” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,633
“cercanas” frequency rank
#9,953
“cercanía” frequency rank
16586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cercanas cercanía
Definition Forma del femenino plural de cercano. Condición o carácter de cercano.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cercanas and cercanía apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
cercanas
8 ch
cercanía

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

cercanas and cercanía form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cercanas is recorded at frequency rank #6,633, classified as anadj, pronounced [seɾˈkanas]. cercanía is at rank #9,953, tagged as anoun, pronounced [seɾkaˈnia].

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 16586, this pair ranks #275,548 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

cercanas#6,633
cercanía#9,953

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cercanas" and "cercanía" be used interchangeably?
No, "cercanas" and "cercanía" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering cercanas vs cercanía

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cercanas”; for a noun, it's “cercanía”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cercanas” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list