esevsestésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#84
“ese” frequency rank
#2,660
“estés” frequency rank
2744
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ese estés
Definition Nombre de la letra s. Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del presente de subjuntivo de estar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ese and estés apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ese
5 ch
estés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ese is [ˈese] while estés is [esˈt̪es]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 2744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ese is recorded at frequency rank #84, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈese]. estés is at rank #2,660, tagged as averb, pronounced [esˈt̪es].

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 2744, this pair ranks #319,742 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ese vs estés

Shared letters: es. Private to "ese": -. Private to "estés": .

"ese" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "estés" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ese" and "estés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ese" is a noun and "estés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ese" or "estés"?
"ese" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #84 in our Spanish list, against #2,660 for "estés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list