hermanavshermosaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: hermana is a noun, hermosa is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hermana” is a noun and “hermosa” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,215
“hermana” frequency rank
#1,773
“hermosa” frequency rank
2988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hermana hermosa
Definition Forma del femenino singular de hermano. Forma del femenino singular de hermoso.

Where the eye mixes hermana and hermosa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hermana and hermosa follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
hermana
7 ch
hermosa

Visual trap between hermana and hermosa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hermana is [eɾˈmana] while hermosa is [eɾˈmosa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hermana is recorded at frequency rank #1,215, classified as anoun, pronounced [eɾˈmana]. hermosa is at rank #1,773, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eɾˈmosa].

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 2988, this pair ranks #319,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hermana vs hermosa

Shared letters: aehmr. Private to "hermana": n. Private to "hermosa": os.

"hermana" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "hermosa" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hermana ← ehrmana · hemrana · heramna · hermaan · hermanna · hermmana · hermnaa · herrmana
  • hermosa ← ehrmosa · hemrosa · hermmosa · hermoas · hermossa · hermsoa · heromsa · herrmosa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hermana" for "hermosa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hermana" is a noun and "hermosa" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "hermana" or "hermosa" show up more?
"hermana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,215 in our Spanish list, against #1,773 for "hermosa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "hermana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hermosa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hermana" and "hermosa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hermana vs Hermann". 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 #319,250 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