EstervsestérilWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Ester is a name, estéril is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Ester” is a name and “estéril” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,642
“Ester” frequency rank
#20,358
“estéril” frequency rank
50000
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ester estéril
Definition Nombre de pila de mujer. Dicho de un ser vivo, incapaz de engendrar descendencia.

Where the eye mixes Ester and estéril

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Ester
7 ch
estéril

Look-alike desk: Ester vs estéril

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ester is [esˈt̪eɾ] while estéril is [esˈt̪eɾil]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ester is recorded at frequency rank #29,642, classified as aname, pronounced [esˈt̪eɾ]. estéril is at rank #20,358, tagged as anadj, pronounced [esˈt̪eɾil].

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 50000, this pair ranks #105,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ester vs estéril

Shared letters: erst. Private to "Ester": -. Private to "estéril": ilé.

"Ester" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "estéril" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Esteresetr · esster · esterr · estre · estter · etser · seter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ester" and "estéril" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ester" is a name and "estéril" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Ester" vs "estéril" - which ranks higher?
"estéril" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,358 in our Spanish list, against #29,642 for "Ester". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ester" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estéril" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #105,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ester" and "estéril" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ester vs esteros". 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 #105,661 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