ÉbolavsebriaTell them apart

Quick tell: Ébola is a name, ebria is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ébola” is a name and “ebria” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,519
“Ébola” frequency rank
#34,074
“ebria” frequency rank
49593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ébola ebria
Definition (Ebolavirus) Virus causante de una enfermedad infecciosa, caracterizada por fiebre hemorrágica, que es altamente contagiosa y muy severa, afectatando a todo tipo de primates, incluidos los seres humanos y a otros mamíferos. Forma del femenino de ebrio.

Where the eye mixes Ébola and ebria

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Ébola (VCVCV) and ebria (VCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Ébola
5 ch
ebria

Look-alike desk: Ébola vs ebria

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ébola is [ˈeβ̞ola] while ebria is [ˈeβ̞ɾja]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ébola is recorded at frequency rank #15,519, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈeβ̞ola]. ebria is at rank #34,074, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeβ̞ɾja].

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 49593, this pair ranks #107,934 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ébola vs ebria

Shared letters: ab. Private to "Ébola": loé. Private to "ebria": eir.

"Ébola" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "ebria" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ebria ← beria · ebbria · ebira · ebrai · ebrria · erbia · evria

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ébola" for "ebria" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ébola" is a name and "ebria" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Ébola" vs "ebria" - which ranks higher?
"Ébola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,519 in our Spanish list, against #34,074 for "ebria". 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 "Ébola" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ebria" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,934 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ébola" and "ebria" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ebria vs Ezra". 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 #107,934 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