isavsisiTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,738
“isa” frequency rank
#39,822
“isi” frequency rank
57560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature isa isi
Definition Estilo musical vocal, en ritmo de tres cuartos, típico de las Islas Canarias. El extranjero, tierra o país de donde uno no es.

Where the eye mixes isa and isi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
isa
3 ch
isi

Why the eye confuses isa with isi

A purely visual mix-up. isa ([ˈisa]) and isi (/ì.sí/) 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 “isa” becomes i in “isi”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

isa is recorded at frequency rank #17,738, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈisa]. isi is at rank #39,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ì.sí/.

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 57560, this pair ranks #70,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of isa vs isi

Shared letters: is. Private to "isa": a. Private to "isi": -.

"isa" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "isi" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "isa" and "isi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈisa] versus /ì.sí/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "isa" or "isi" show up more?
"isa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,738 in our Spanish list, against #39,822 for "isi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "isa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "isa" and "isi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isi vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,009 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