empresavsespesaConfusable pair

Quick tell: empresa is a noun, espesa is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empresa” is a noun and “espesa” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#431
“empresa” frequency rank
#21,322
“espesa” frequency rank
21753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empresa espesa
Definition Organismo compuesto por el trabajo y el capital como elementos de la producción, y ocupada en labores industriales, comerciales o de prestación de servicios, con fines de lucro. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espesar.

Where the eye mixes empresa and espesa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. empresa runs 7 letters (VCCCVCV) against espesa's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
empresa
6 ch
espesa

Visual trap between empresa and espesa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empresa is [ẽmˈpɾesa] while espesa is [esˈpesa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empresa is recorded at frequency rank #431, classified as anoun, pronounced [ẽmˈpɾesa]. espesa is at rank #21,322, tagged as averb, pronounced [esˈpesa].

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 21753, this pair ranks #253,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of empresa vs espesa

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "empresa": mr. Private to "espesa": -.

"empresa" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "espesa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empresa ← emmpresa · empersa · emppresa · empreas · empressa · emprresa · emprsea · emrpesa
  • espesa ← epsesa · esepsa · espeas · espessa · esppesa · espsea · esspesa · sepesa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "empresa" and "espesa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empresa" is a noun and "espesa" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "empresa" or "espesa" show up more?
"empresa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #431 in our Spanish list, against #21,322 for "espesa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "empresa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espesa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,493 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "empresa" and "espesa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esperad vs espesa". 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 #253,493 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