ladravslapaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,275
“ladra” frequency rank
#47,226
“lapa” frequency rank
79501
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ladra lapa
Definition El acto de ladrar el perro. Telilla o nata que diversos vegetales criptógamos forman en la superficie de algunos líquidos.

Where the eye mixes ladra and lapa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ladra runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lapa's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ladra
4 ch
lapa

Visual trap between ladra and lapa

A purely visual mix-up. ladra ([ˈlað̞ɾa]) and lapa ([ˈlapa]) 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 79501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ladra is recorded at frequency rank #32,275, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlað̞ɾa]. lapa is at rank #47,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlapa].

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 79501, this pair ranks #12,924 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ladra vs lapa

Shared letters: al. Private to "ladra": dr. Private to "lapa": p.

"ladra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "lapa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladra ← aldra · ladar · laddra · ladrra · larda · ldara · lladra
  • lapa ← alpa · laap · lappa · llapa · lpaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ladra" and "lapa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlað̞ɾa] versus [ˈlapa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ladra" or "lapa"?
"ladra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,275 in our Spanish list, against #47,226 for "lapa". 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 "ladra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lapa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,924 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ladra" and "lapa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapa vs Lyra". 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 #12,924 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