costasvscostraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,483
“costas” frequency rank
#44,080
“costra” frequency rank
49563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature costas costra
Definition Conjunto de gastos de un proceso legal o judicial. Tejido temporal formado por las plaquetas que cubre una herida para proteger la dermis durante el proceso de regeneración.

Where the eye mixes costas and costra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. costas (CVCCVC) and costra (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
costas
6 ch
costra

Visual trap between costas and costra

A purely visual mix-up. costas ([ˈkost̪as]) and costra ([ˈkost̪ɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

costas is recorded at frequency rank #5,483, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkost̪as]. costra is at rank #44,080, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkost̪ɾa].

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 49563, this pair ranks #108,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of costas vs costra

Shared letters: acost. Private to "costas": -. Private to "costra": r.

"costas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "costra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • costas ← ccostas · cosats · cosstas · costass · costsa · costtas · cotsas · csotas
  • costra ← ccostra · cosrta · cosstra · costrra · costtra · cotsra · csotra · ocstra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "costas" for "costra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkost̪as] versus [ˈkost̪ɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "costas" vs "costra" - which ranks higher?
"costas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,483 in our Spanish list, against #44,080 for "costra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "costas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "costas" and "costra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casará vs costra". 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 #108,095 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