costasvscrestasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,483
“costas” frequency rank
#41,832
“crestas” frequency rank
47315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature costas crestas
Definition Conjunto de gastos de un proceso legal o judicial. Forma del plural de cresta.

Where the eye mixes costas and crestas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. costas runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against crestas's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
costas
7 ch
crestas

Visual trap between costas and crestas

A purely visual mix-up. costas ([ˈkost̪as]) and crestas ([ˈkɾest̪as]) 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 47315, 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]. crestas is at rank #41,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɾest̪as].

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 47315, this pair ranks #120,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of costas vs crestas

Shared letters: acst. Private to "costas": o. Private to "crestas": er.

"costas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "crestas" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • costas ← ccostas · cosats · cosstas · costass · costsa · costtas · cotsas · csotas
  • crestas ← ccrestas · cerstas · cresats · cresstas · crestass · crestsa · cresttas · cretsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "costas" for "crestas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkost̪as] versus [ˈkɾest̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "costas" or "crestas"?
"costas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,483 in our Spanish list, against #41,832 for "crestas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "crestas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,741 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "costas" and "crestas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cestas vs crestas". 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 #120,741 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