espasavsespesoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: espasa is a noun, espeso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#30,893
“espasa” frequency rank
#27,981
“espeso” frequency rank
58874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espasa espeso
Definition Espada. Hablando de un fluido, que es denso y fluye con dificultad.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set espasa and espeso apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
espasa
6 ch
espeso

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: espasa is [əsˈpa.zə] while espeso is [esˈpeso]. 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 58874, 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]. espeso is at rank #27,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced [esˈpeso].

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 58874, this pair ranks #64,819 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of espasa vs espeso

Shared letters: eps. Private to "espasa": a. Private to "espeso": o.

"espasa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "espeso" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espasaepsasa · esapsa · espaas · espassa · esppasa · espsaa · esspasa · sepasa
  • espesoepseso · esepso · espeos · espesso · esppeso · espseo · esspeso · sepeso

Frequency comparison

espasa#30,893
espeso#27,981

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "espasa" and "espeso" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "espasa" is a noun and "espeso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "espasa" or "espeso"?
"espeso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,981 in our Spanish list, against #30,893 for "espasa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering espasa vs espeso

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “espasa”; for an adjective, it's “espeso”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “espasa” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list