Which to use
“comillas” and “costillas” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,770
- “comillas” frequency rank
- #13,427
- “costillas” frequency rank
- 32197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comillas | costillas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Par de signos de puntuación usados para delimitar un texto citado textualmente o para dar carácter especial. | Forma del plural de costilla. |
Where the eye mixes comillas and costillas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. comillas runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against costillas's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses comillas with costillas
A purely visual mix-up. comillas ([koˈmiʝas]) and costillas ([kosˈt̪iʝas]) 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 32197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comillas is recorded at frequency rank #18,770, classified as anoun, pronounced [koˈmiʝas]. costillas is at rank #13,427, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kosˈt̪iʝas].
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 32197, this pair ranks #203,249 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of comillas vs costillas
Shared letters: acilos. Private to "comillas": m. Private to "costillas": t.
"comillas" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "costillas" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "comillas" and "costillas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "comillas" or "costillas" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "comillas" and "costillas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "comillas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costillas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #203,249 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comillas" and "costillas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canillas vs comillas". 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 #203,249 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.