citarvscostarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,522
“citar” frequency rank
#10,475
“costar” frequency rank
17997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citar costar
Definition Avisar, prevenir, emplazar a alguno, señalándole día, hora y lugar para tratar de algún negocio. Tener un valor en dinero.

Where the eye mixes citar and costar

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

5 ch
citar
6 ch
costar

Visual trap between citar and costar

A purely visual mix-up. citar ([siˈt̪aɾ]) and costar ([kosˈt̪aɾ]) 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 17997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citar is recorded at frequency rank #7,522, classified as averb, pronounced [siˈt̪aɾ]. costar is at rank #10,475, tagged as averb, pronounced [kosˈt̪aɾ].

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 17997, this pair ranks #269,772 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of citar vs costar

Shared letters: acrt. Private to "citar": i. Private to "costar": os.

"citar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "costar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citarccitar · ciatr · citarr · citra · cittar · ctiar · ictar · sitar
  • costarccostar · cosatr · cosstar · costarr · costtar · cotsar · csotar · ocstar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "citar" and "costar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([siˈt̪aɾ] versus [kosˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "citar" vs "costar" - which ranks higher?
"citar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,522 in our Spanish list, against #10,475 for "costar". 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 "citar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,772 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citar" and "costar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "citar vs citarse". 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 #269,772 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