cestavscestoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,530
“cesta” frequency rank
#33,014
“cesto” frequency rank
49544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cesta cesto
Definition Recipiente tejido de mimbre, esparto o material similar. Recipiente tejido con mimbres, varillas u otros derivados de la madera, o hecho con materiales sintéticos, en especial cuando es más alto que ancho, y de mayor tamaño que una cesta normal.

Where the eye mixes cesta and cesto

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

5 ch
cesta
5 ch
cesto

Why the eye confuses cesta with cesto

A purely visual mix-up. cesta ([ˈsest̪a]) and cesto ([ˈsest̪o]) 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 a single letter - a in “cesta” becomes o in “cesto”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cesta is recorded at frequency rank #16,530, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsest̪a]. cesto is at rank #33,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsest̪o].

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 49544, this pair ranks #108,207 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cesta vs cesto

Shared letters: cest. Private to "cesta": a. Private to "cesto": o.

"cesta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cesto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cestaccesta · cesat · cessta · cestta · cetsa · cseta · ecsta · sesta
  • cestoccesto · cesot · cessto · cestto · cetso · cseto · ecsto · sesto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cesta" and "cesto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsest̪a] versus [ˈsest̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cesta" vs "cesto" - which ranks higher?
"cesta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,530 in our Spanish list, against #33,014 for "cesto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cesta" and "cesto" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cesta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cesto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,207 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cesta" and "cesto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cedo vs cesto". 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 #108,207 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