enterabavsesperabaTell them apart

Which to use

“enteraba” and “esperaba” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,984
“enteraba” frequency rank
#2,209
“esperaba” frequency rank
51193
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enteraba esperaba
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de enterar o de enterarse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de esperar o de esperarse.

Where the eye mixes enteraba and esperaba

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
enteraba
8 ch
esperaba

Visual trap between enteraba and esperaba

A purely visual mix-up. enteraba ([ẽn̪t̪eˈɾaβ̞a]) and esperaba ([espeˈɾaβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enteraba is recorded at frequency rank #48,984, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽn̪t̪eˈɾaβ̞a]. esperaba is at rank #2,209, tagged as averb, pronounced [espeˈɾaβ̞a].

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 51193, this pair ranks #99,130 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enteraba vs esperaba

Shared letters: aber. Private to "enteraba": nt. Private to "esperaba": ps.

"enteraba" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "esperaba" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enterabaenetraba · ennteraba · entearba · enteraab · enterabba · enterava · enterbaa · enterraba
  • esperabaepseraba · esepraba · espearba · esperaab · esperabba · esperava · esperbaa · esperraba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enteraba" for "esperaba" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ẽn̪t̪eˈɾaβ̞a] versus [espeˈɾaβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "enteraba" or "esperaba" show up more?
"esperaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,209 in our Spanish list, against #48,984 for "enteraba". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enteraba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esperaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,130 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enteraba" and "esperaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enteraba vs entrenaba". 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 #99,130 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