Which to use
“ebria” is an adjective and “espía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,074
- “ebria” frequency rank
- #8,796
- “espía” frequency rank
- 42870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ebria | espía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de ebrio. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espiar. |
Where the eye mixes ebria and espía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ebria with espía
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ebria is [ˈeβ̞ɾja] while espía is [esˈpia]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ebria is recorded at frequency rank #34,074, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeβ̞ɾja]. espía is at rank #8,796, tagged as averb, pronounced [esˈpia].
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 42870, this pair ranks #145,835 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ebria vs espía
Shared letters: ae. Private to "ebria": bir. Private to "espía": psí.
"ebria" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "espía" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ebria ← beria · ebbria · ebira · ebrai · ebrria · erbia · evria
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ebria" and "espía" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ebria" vs "espía" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ebria" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "espía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,835 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ebria" and "espía" 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 #145,835 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.