Which to use
“energía” is a noun and “enérgica” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #822
- “energía” frequency rank
- #25,625
- “enérgica” frequency rank
- 26447
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | energía | enérgica |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Es una magnitud física del tipo escalar que se manifiesta en diversas formas, se mide por la capacidad de una fuerza o de un sistema para realizar trabajo mecánico, sus principales unidades son: julios y kilowatts.hora (o kilovatio.hora) y su simbolo es: E. | Forma del femenino de enérgico. |
Where the eye mixes energía and enérgica
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. energía runs 7 letters (VCVCCVV) against enérgica's 8 (VCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: energía vs enérgica
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: energía is [eneɾˈxia] while enérgica is [eˈneɾxika]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
energía is recorded at frequency rank #822, classified as anoun, pronounced [eneɾˈxia]. enérgica is at rank #25,625, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eˈneɾxika].
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 26447, this pair ranks #231,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of energía vs enérgica
Shared letters: aegnr. Private to "energía": í. Private to "enérgica": cié.
"energía" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV · "enérgica" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "energía" for "enérgica" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "energía" or "enérgica" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "energía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enérgica" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "energía" and "enérgica" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enérgica vs enérgicos". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #231,563 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.