espadasvsesposasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,497
“espadas” frequency rank
#8,113
“esposas” frequency rank
18610
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espadas esposas
Definition En el juego de naipes con baraja española, nombre del palo que contiene representaciones de espadas. Utensilio formado por dos aros metálicos unidos por un eslabón que se colocan en las muñecas de una persona para limitar sus movimientos.

Where the eye mixes espadas and esposas

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

7 ch
espadas
7 ch
esposas

Why the eye confuses espadas with esposas

A purely visual mix-up. espadas ([esˈpað̞as]) and esposas ([esˈposas]) 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 18610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espadas is recorded at frequency rank #10,497, classified as anoun, pronounced [esˈpað̞as]. esposas is at rank #8,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced [esˈposas].

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 18610, this pair ranks #267,182 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of espadas vs esposas

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "espadas": d. Private to "esposas": o.

"espadas" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "esposas" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espadasepsadas · esapdas · espaads · espadass · espaddas · espadsa · espdaas · esppadas
  • esposasepsosas · esopsas · espoass · esposass · espossas · espposas · espsoas · essposas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "espadas" for "esposas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([esˈpað̞as] versus [esˈposas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "espadas" or "esposas"?
"esposas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,113 in our Spanish list, against #10,497 for "espadas". 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 "espadas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esposas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,182 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espadas" and "esposas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espadas vs estacas". 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 #267,182 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