espesavsesposasConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#21,322
“espesa” frequency rank
#8,113
“esposas” frequency rank
29435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espesa esposas
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espesar. 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 espesa and esposas

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

6 ch
espesa
7 ch
esposas

Look-alike desk: espesa vs esposas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: espesa is [esˈpesa] while esposas is [esˈposas]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espesa is recorded at frequency rank #21,322, classified as averb, pronounced [esˈpesa]. 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 29435, this pair ranks #217,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of espesa vs esposas

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "espesa": -. Private to "esposas": o.

"espesa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "esposas" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espesaepsesa · esepsa · espeas · espessa · esppesa · espsea · esspesa · sepesa
  • esposasepsosas · esopsas · espoass · esposass · espossas · espposas · espsoas · essposas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "espesa" for "esposas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "espesa" is a verb and "esposas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "espesa" or "esposas"?
"esposas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,113 in our Spanish list, against #21,322 for "espesa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "espesa" 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 #217,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espesa" and "esposas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esperad vs espesa". 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 #217,016 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