Which to use
“costosa” and “costoso” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,203
- “costosa” frequency rank
- #12,789
- “costoso” frequency rank
- 30992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | costosa | costoso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de costoso. | Lo que cuesta mucho dinero. |
Where the eye mixes costosa and costoso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. costosa and costoso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between costosa and costoso
A purely visual mix-up. costosa ([kosˈt̪osa]) and costoso ([kosˈt̪oso]) 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 a single letter - a in “costosa” becomes o in “costoso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
costosa is recorded at frequency rank #18,203, classified as anadj, pronounced [kosˈt̪osa]. costoso is at rank #12,789, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kosˈt̪oso].
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 30992, this pair ranks #209,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of costosa vs costoso
Shared letters: cost. Private to "costosa": a. Private to "costoso": -.
"costosa" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "costoso" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "costosa" for "costoso" ever safe?
Frequency check: "costosa" vs "costoso" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "costosa" and "costoso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "costosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costoso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "costosa" and "costoso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "costosa 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 #209,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.