Which to use
“espasa” is a noun and “espía” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,893
- “espasa” frequency rank
- #8,796
- “espía” frequency rank
- 39689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espasa | espía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espada. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espiar. |
Where the eye mixes espasa and espía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. espasa runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against espía's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between espasa and espía
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: espasa is [əsˈpa.zə] while espía is [esˈpia]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39689, 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]. espía is at rank #8,796, tagged as averb, pronounced [esˈpia].
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 39689, this pair ranks #163,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of espasa vs espía
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "espasa": -. Private to "espía": í.
"espasa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "espía" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- espasa ← epsasa · esapsa · espaas · espassa · esppasa · espsaa · esspasa · sepasa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "espasa" for "espía" ever safe?
Which is more common, "espasa" or "espía"?
After this comparison
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 "espía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espasa" and "espía" 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 #163,175 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.