isavsiteTell them apart

Quick tell: isa is a noun, ite is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“isa” is a noun and “ite” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,738
“isa” frequency rank
#46,021
“ite” frequency rank
63759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature isa ite
Definition Estilo musical vocal, en ritmo de tres cuartos, típico de las Islas Canarias. Comido; participio pasado de ith.

Where the eye mixes isa and ite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
isa
3 ch
ite

Look-alike desk: isa vs ite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: isa is [ˈisa] while ite is [ˈɪtʲɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63759, 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]. ite is at rank #46,021, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪtʲɪ].

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 63759, this pair ranks #47,710 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of isa vs ite

Shared letters: i. Private to "isa": as. Private to "ite": et.

"isa" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ite" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "isa" for "ite" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "isa" is a noun and "ite" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "isa" or "ite"?
"isa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,738 in our Spanish list, against #46,021 for "ite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "isa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,710 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "isa" and "ite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ite vs iza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #47,710 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