Which to use
“espía” and “espinar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,796
- “espía” frequency rank
- #26,033
- “espinar” frequency rank
- 34829
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espía | espinar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espiar. | Herir o punzar con algo puntiagudo. |
Where the eye mixes espía and espinar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: espía vs espinar
A purely visual mix-up. espía ([esˈpia]) and espinar ([espiˈnaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espía is recorded at frequency rank #8,796, classified as averb, pronounced [esˈpia]. espinar is at rank #26,033, tagged as averb, pronounced [espiˈnaɾ].
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 34829, this pair ranks #189,327 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of espía vs espinar
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "espía": í. Private to "espinar": inr.
"espía" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "espinar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- espinar ← epsinar · esipnar · espianr · espinarr · espinnar · espinra · espniar · esppinar
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "espía" and "espinar" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "espía" or "espinar" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "espía" and "espinar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "espía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "espinar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,327 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espía" and "espinar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espinaca vs espinar". 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 #189,327 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.