escasavsescasezTell them apart

Quick tell: escasa is a adjective, escasez is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“escasa” is an adjective and “escasez” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,016
“escasa” frequency rank
#5,503
“escasez” frequency rank
12519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escasa escasez
Definition Forma del femenino de escaso. Condición o carácter de escaso

Where the eye mixes escasa and escasez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
escasa
7 ch
escasez

Look-alike desk: escasa vs escasez

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: escasa is [esˈkasa] while escasez is [eskaˈses]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escasa is recorded at frequency rank #7,016, classified as anadj, pronounced [esˈkasa]. escasez is at rank #5,503, tagged as anoun, pronounced [eskaˈses].

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 12519, this pair ranks #291,264 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of escasa vs escasez

Shared letters: aces. Private to "escasa": -. Private to "escasez": z.

"escasa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escasez" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escasaecsasa · esacsa · escaas · escassa · esccasa · escsaa · esscasa · secasa
  • escasezecsasez · esacsez · escacez · escaesz · escasezz · escassez · escasze · esccasez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escasa" for "escasez" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "escasa" is an adjective and "escasez" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "escasa" or "escasez" show up more?
"escasez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,503 in our Spanish list, against #7,016 for "escasa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escasa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escasez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,264 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escasa" and "escasez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escasa vs escasean". 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 #291,264 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