Which to use
“espía” and “expira” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,796
- “espía” frequency rank
- #44,744
- “expira” frequency rank
- 53540
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espía | expira |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de espiar. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de expirar. |
Where the eye mixes espía and expira
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. espía runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against expira's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between espía and expira
A purely visual mix-up. espía ([esˈpia]) and expira ([eksˈpiɾa]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53540, 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]. expira is at rank #44,744, tagged as averb, pronounced [eksˈpiɾa].
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 53540, this pair ranks #87,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of espía vs expira
Shared letters: aep. Private to "espía": sí. Private to "expira": irx.
"espía" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "expira" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- expira ← epxira · exipra · expiar · expirra · exppira · expria · exxpira · xepira
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "espía" for "expira" ever safe?
Which is more common, "espía" or "expira"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "espía" and "expira" 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 "expira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espía" and "expira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "expira vs expiró". 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 #87,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.