destacarvsdestapaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,479
“destacar” frequency rank
#45,260
“destapa” frequency rank
48739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature destacar destapa
Definition Poner de relieve, resaltar, llamar la atención. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de destapar.

Where the eye mixes destacar and destapa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. destacar runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against destapa's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
destacar
7 ch
destapa

Visual trap between destacar and destapa

A purely visual mix-up. destacar ([d̪est̪aˈkaɾ]) and destapa ([d̪esˈt̪apa]) 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 48739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

destacar is recorded at frequency rank #3,479, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪est̪aˈkaɾ]. destapa is at rank #45,260, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈt̪apa].

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 48739, this pair ranks #112,819 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of destacar vs destapa

Shared letters: adest. Private to "destacar": cr. Private to "destapa": p.

"destacar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "destapa" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • destacar ← ddestacar · desatcar · desstacar · destaacr · destacarr · destaccar · destacra · destcaar
  • destapa ← ddestapa · desatpa · desstapa · destaap · destappa · destpaa · desttapa · detsapa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "destacar" and "destapa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪est̪aˈkaɾ] versus [d̪esˈt̪apa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "destacar" or "destapa" show up more?
"destacar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,479 in our Spanish list, against #45,260 for "destapa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "destacar" and "destapa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "destacar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "destapa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,819 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "destacar" and "destapa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "destapa vs destila". 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 #112,819 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