espasavsesperaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,893
“espasa” frequency rank
#785
“espera” frequency rank
31678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espasa espera
Definition Espada. Acción o efecto de esperar.

Where the eye mixes espasa and espera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. espasa and espera follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
espasa
6 ch
espera

Look-alike desk: espasa vs espera

A purely visual mix-up. espasa ([əsˈpa.zə]) and espera ([esˈpeɾa]) 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 31678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espasa is recorded at frequency rank #30,893, classified as anoun, pronounced [əsˈpa.zə]. espera is at rank #785, tagged as anoun, pronounced [esˈpeɾa].

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 31678, this pair ranks #205,874 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of espasa vs espera

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "espasa": -. Private to "espera": r.

"espasa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "espera" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espasa ← epsasa · esapsa · espaas · espassa · esppasa · espsaa · esspasa · sepasa
  • espera ← epsera · esepra · espear · esperra · esppera · esprea · esspera · sepera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "espasa" and "espera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([əsˈpa.zə] versus [esˈpeɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "espasa" or "espera"?
"espera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #785 in our Spanish list, against #30,893 for "espasa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "espasa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #205,874 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espasa" and "espera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escasea vs espasa". 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 #205,874 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