disculparvsdisculparseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,039
“disculpar” frequency rank
#19,996
“disculparse” frequency rank
50035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature disculpar disculparse
Definition Alegar descargos, dar razones o pruebas que descarguen de alguna culpa o delito. Excusarse, justificarse, purificarse, descargarse de culpa.

Where the eye mixes disculpar and disculparse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
disculpar
11 ch
disculparse

Visual trap between disculpar and disculparse

A purely visual mix-up. disculpar ([d̪iskulˈpaɾ]) and disculparse ([d̪iskulˈpaɾse]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “disculpar” sits inside “disculparse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

disculpar is recorded at frequency rank #30,039, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪iskulˈpaɾ]. disculparse is at rank #19,996, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪iskulˈpaɾse].

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 50035, this pair ranks #105,467 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of disculpar vs disculparse

Shared letters: acdilprsu. Private to "disculpar": -. Private to "disculparse": e.

"disculpar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "disculparse" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • disculparddisculpar · dicsulpar · discculpar · disclupar · disculapr · discullpar · disculparr · disculppar
  • disculparseddisculparse · dicsulparse · discculparse · discluparse · disculaprse · discullparse · disculparce · disculpares

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "disculpar" for "disculparse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪iskulˈpaɾ] versus [d̪iskulˈpaɾse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "disculpar" or "disculparse"?
"disculparse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,996 in our Spanish list, against #30,039 for "disculpar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "disculpar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "disculparse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #105,467 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "disculpar" and "disculparse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disculpado vs disculpar". 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 #105,467 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