insistavsinsultaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,290
“insista” frequency rank
#18,874
“insulta” frequency rank
58164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature insista insulta
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de insistir. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de insultar.

Where the eye mixes insista and insulta

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

7 ch
insista
7 ch
insulta

Look-alike desk: insista vs insulta

A purely visual mix-up. insista ([ĩnˈsist̪a]) and insulta ([ĩnˈsul̪t̪a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

insista is recorded at frequency rank #39,290, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩnˈsist̪a]. insulta is at rank #18,874, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩnˈsul̪t̪a].

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 58164, this pair ranks #67,514 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of insista vs insulta

Shared letters: ainst. Private to "insista": -. Private to "insulta": lu.

"insista" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "insulta" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • insista ← incista · inissta · innsista · insisat · insissta · insistta · insitsa · inssista
  • insulta ← innsulta · insluta · inssulta · insulat · insullta · insultta · insutla · inuslta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "insista" for "insulta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩnˈsist̪a] versus [ĩnˈsul̪t̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "insista" or "insulta"?
"insulta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,874 in our Spanish list, against #39,290 for "insista". 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 "insista" and "insulta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "insista" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "insulta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,514 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "insista" and "insulta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "insista vs insistí". 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 #67,514 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