infecciónvsinspecciónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,547
“infección” frequency rank
#6,550
“inspección” frequency rank
13097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infección inspección
Definition Acción o efecto de infectar o de infectarse. Acción o efecto de inspeccionar.

Where the eye mixes infección and inspección

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. infección runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against inspección's 10 (VCCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
infección
10 ch
inspección

Look-alike desk: infección vs inspección

A purely visual mix-up. infección ([ĩɱfekˈsjõn]) and inspección ([ĩnspekˈsjõn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infección is recorded at frequency rank #6,547, classified as anoun, pronounced [ĩɱfekˈsjõn]. inspección is at rank #6,550, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩnspekˈsjõn].

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 13097, this pair ranks #289,157 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of infección vs inspección

Shared letters: ceinó. Private to "infección": f. Private to "inspección": ps.

"infección" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC  ·  "inspección" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "infección" for "inspección" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩɱfekˈsjõn] versus [ĩnspekˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "infección" vs "inspección" - which ranks higher?
"infección" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,547 in our Spanish list, against #6,550 for "inspección". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "infección" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inspección" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,157 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infección" and "inspección" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infección vs infecciosa". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #289,157 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