cesavscestaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#27,145
“cesa” frequency rank
#16,530
“cesta” frequency rank
43675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cesa cesta
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cesar. Recipiente tejido de mimbre, esparto o material similar.

Where the eye mixes cesa and cesta

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

4 ch
cesa
5 ch
cesta

Visual trap between cesa and cesta

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cesa is [ˈsesa] while cesta is [ˈsest̪a]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cesa is recorded at frequency rank #27,145, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsesa]. cesta is at rank #16,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsest̪a].

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 43675, this pair ranks #141,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cesa vs cesta

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cesa": -. Private to "cesta": t.

"cesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cesta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cesa ← ccesa · cessa · csea · ecsa
  • cesta ← ccesta · cesat · cessta · cestta · cetsa · cseta · ecsta · sesta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cesa" for "cesta" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cesa" is a verb and "cesta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cesa" or "cesta" show up more?
"cesta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,530 in our Spanish list, against #27,145 for "cesa". 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 "cesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cesta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cesa" and "cesta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs cesa". 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 #141,331 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