macetavsmaletasTell them apart

Quick tell: maceta is a adjective, maletas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#30,143
“maceta” frequency rank
#11,445
“maletas” frequency rank
41588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maceta maletas
Definition El caballo viejo, manco, inservible. Forma del plural de maleta.

Where the eye mixes maceta and maletas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maceta runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against maletas's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
maceta
7 ch
maletas

Why the eye confuses maceta with maletas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maceta is [maˈset̪a] while maletas is [maˈlet̪as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maceta is recorded at frequency rank #30,143, classified as anadj, pronounced [maˈset̪a]. maletas is at rank #11,445, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maˈlet̪as].

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 41588, this pair ranks #152,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maceta vs maletas

Shared letters: aemt. Private to "maceta": c. Private to "maletas": ls.

"maceta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "maletas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maceta ← amceta · macceta · maceat · macetta · mactea · maecta · maseta · mcaeta
  • maletas ← amletas · maeltas · maleats · maletass · maletsa · malettas · malletas · malteas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maceta" for "maletas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maceta" is an adjective and "maletas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maceta" or "maletas"?
"maletas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,445 in our Spanish list, against #30,143 for "maceta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "maceta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maletas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,863 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maceta" and "maletas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maceta vs Matta". 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 #152,863 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