energíavsenfríaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#822
“energía” frequency rank
#29,190
“enfría” frequency rank
30012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature energía enfría
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. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de enfriar o de enfriarse.

Where the eye mixes energía and enfría

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

7 ch
energía
6 ch
enfría

Look-alike desk: energía vs enfría

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: energía is [eneɾˈxia] while enfría is [ẽɱˈfɾia]. 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 30012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

energía is recorded at frequency rank #822, classified as anoun, pronounced [eneɾˈxia]. enfría is at rank #29,190, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽɱˈfɾia].

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 30012, this pair ranks #214,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of energía vs enfría

Shared letters: aenrí. Private to "energía": g. Private to "enfría": f.

"energía" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "enfría" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "energía" and "enfría" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "energía" is a noun and "enfría" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "energía" or "enfría"?
"energía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #822 in our Spanish list, against #29,190 for "enfría". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "energía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfría" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "energía" and "enfría" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfría vs enfriado". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #214,095 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