cestovscostosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,014
“cesto” frequency rank
#3,038
“costos” frequency rank
36052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cesto costos
Definition 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. Forma del plural de costo.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cesto and costos apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cesto
6 ch
costos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cesto ([ˈsest̪o]) and costos ([ˈkost̪os]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cesto is recorded at frequency rank #33,014, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsest̪o]. costos is at rank #3,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkost̪os].

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 36052, this pair ranks #182,752 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cesto vs costos

Shared letters: cost. Private to "cesto": e. Private to "costos": -.

"cesto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "costos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cestoccesto · cesot · cessto · cestto · cetso · cseto · ecsto · sesto
  • costosccostos · cosots · cosstos · costoss · costso · costtos · cotsos · csotos

Frequency comparison

cesto#33,014
costos#3,038

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cesto" and "costos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsest̪o] versus [ˈkost̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cesto" or "costos"?
"costos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,038 in our Spanish list, against #33,014 for "cesto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cesto vs costos

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cesto” 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