impulsavsimpulsarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,403
“impulsa” frequency rank
#6,314
“impulsar” frequency rank
18717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature impulsa impulsar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de impulsar. Impeler.

Where the eye mixes impulsa and impulsar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
impulsa
8 ch
impulsar

Why the eye confuses impulsa with impulsar

A purely visual mix-up. impulsa ([ĩmˈpulsa]) and impulsar ([ĩmpulˈsaɾ]) 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) - “impulsa” sits inside “impulsar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

impulsa is recorded at frequency rank #12,403, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmˈpulsa]. impulsar is at rank #6,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmpulˈsaɾ].

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 18717, this pair ranks #266,760 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of impulsa vs impulsar

Shared letters: ailmpsu. Private to "impulsa": -. Private to "impulsar": r.

"impulsa" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "impulsar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • impulsaimmpulsa · implusa · imppulsa · impulas · impullsa · impulssa · impusla · imuplsa
  • impulsarimmpulsar · implusar · imppulsar · impulasr · impullsar · impulsarr · impulsra · impulssar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "impulsa" for "impulsar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmˈpulsa] versus [ĩmpulˈsaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "impulsa" vs "impulsar" - which ranks higher?
"impulsar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,314 in our Spanish list, against #12,403 for "impulsa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "impulsa" and "impulsar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "impulsa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "impulsar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,760 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "impulsa" and "impulsar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impulsa vs impulsora". 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 #266,760 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