indefensavsindefensoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,707
“indefensa” frequency rank
#28,408
“indefenso” frequency rank
61115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indefensa indefenso
Definition Forma del femenino singular de indefenso. Que carece de defensa o protección.

Where the eye mixes indefensa and indefenso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. indefensa and indefenso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
indefensa
9 ch
indefenso

Visual trap between indefensa and indefenso

A purely visual mix-up. indefensa ([ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnsa]) and indefenso ([ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnso]) 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 a single letter - a in “indefensa” becomes o in “indefenso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indefensa is recorded at frequency rank #32,707, classified as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnsa]. indefenso is at rank #28,408, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnso].

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 61115, this pair ranks #56,585 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of indefensa vs indefenso

Shared letters: defins. Private to "indefensa": a. Private to "indefenso": o.

"indefensa" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "indefenso" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • indefensa ← idnefensa · inddefensa · indeefnsa · indefenas · indefennsa · indefenssa · indefesna · indeffensa
  • indefenso ← idnefenso · inddefenso · indeefnso · indefennso · indefenos · indefesno · indeffenso · indefneso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "indefensa" for "indefenso" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnsa] versus [ĩn̪d̪eˈfẽnso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "indefensa" vs "indefenso" - which ranks higher?
"indefenso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,408 in our Spanish list, against #32,707 for "indefensa". 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 "indefensa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "indefenso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,585 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "indefensa" and "indefenso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indefensión vs indefenso". 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 #56,585 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