contaríavscostaráWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,771
“contaría” frequency rank
#15,332
“costará” frequency rank
42103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contaría costará
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del condicional de contar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de costar.

Where the eye mixes contaría and costará

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contaría runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against costará's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
contaría
7 ch
costará

Why the eye confuses contaría with costará

A purely visual mix-up. contaría ([kõn̪t̪aˈɾia]) and costará ([kost̪aˈɾa]) 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 42103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contaría is recorded at frequency rank #26,771, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪aˈɾia]. costará is at rank #15,332, tagged as averb, pronounced [kost̪aˈɾa].

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 42103, this pair ranks #150,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contaría vs costará

Shared letters: acort. Private to "contaría": ní. Private to "costará": sá.

"contaría" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "costará" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contaría" for "costará" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪aˈɾia] versus [kost̪aˈɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contaría" or "costará"?
"costará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,332 in our Spanish list, against #26,771 for "contaría". 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 "contaría" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costará" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contaría" and "costará" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contaría vs cortarla". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #150,085 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