Which to use
“erre” is a noun and “este” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,302
- “erre” frequency rank
- #31
- “este” frequency rank
- 45333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erre | este |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nombre de la letra r, decimonovena del alfabeto español y decimoctava del orden latino internacional, sobre todo referida a su sonido fuerte.. | Se emplea para indicar o señalar algo o a alguien próximo al hablante, o referirse a algo que se acaba de mencionar. |
Where the eye mixes erre and este
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: erre vs este
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: erre is [ˈere] while este is [ˈest̪e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erre is recorded at frequency rank #45,302, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈere]. este is at rank #31, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈest̪e].
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 45333, this pair ranks #132,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of erre vs este
Shared letters: e. Private to "erre": r. Private to "este": st.
"erre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "este" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erre" and "este" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "erre" or "este" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "erre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "este" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #132,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erre" and "este" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erre vs Erro". 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 #132,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.