gastovsgastosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gasto” and “gastos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,834
“gasto” frequency rank
#1,853
“gastos” frequency rank
4687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gasto gastos
Definition Acción y efecto de gastar Forma del plural de gasto.

Where the eye mixes gasto and gastos

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

5 ch
gasto
6 ch
gastos

Visual trap between gasto and gastos

A purely visual mix-up. gasto ([ˈgast̪o]) and gastos ([ˈgast̪os]) 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 extra letter(s) - “gasto” sits inside “gastos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gasto is recorded at frequency rank #2,834, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈgast̪o]. gastos is at rank #1,853, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈgast̪os].

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 4687, this pair ranks #315,486 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gasto vs gastos

Shared letters: agost. Private to "gasto": -. Private to "gastos": -.

"gasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "gastos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gastoagsto · gasot · gassto · gastto · gatso · ggasto · gsato
  • gastosagstos · gasots · gasstos · gastoss · gastso · gasttos · gatsos · ggastos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gasto" and "gastos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈgast̪o] versus [ˈgast̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gasto" vs "gastos" - which ranks higher?
"gastos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,853 in our Spanish list, against #2,834 for "gasto". 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 "gasto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gastos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #315,486 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gasto" and "gastos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "garbo vs gasto". 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 #315,486 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