mezquinavsmezquindadWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#44,315
“mezquina” frequency rank
#40,395
“mezquindad” frequency rank
84710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mezquina mezquindad
Definition Forma del femenino de mezquino. Cualidad de quien reduce excesivamente el gasto que debería hacer.

Where the eye mixes mezquina and mezquindad

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. mezquina runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against mezquindad's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
mezquina
10 ch
mezquindad

Visual trap between mezquina and mezquindad

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mezquina is [mesˈkina] while mezquindad is [meskĩn̪ˈd̪að̞]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 84710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mezquina is recorded at frequency rank #44,315, classified as anadj, pronounced [mesˈkina]. mezquindad is at rank #40,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced [meskĩn̪ˈd̪að̞].

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 84710, this pair ranks #6,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mezquina vs mezquindad

Shared letters: aeimnquz. Private to "mezquina": -. Private to "mezquindad": d.

"mezquina" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "mezquindad" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mezquina ← emzquina · meqzuina · mezqiuna · mezqquina · mezquian · mezquinna · mezqunia · mezuqina
  • mezquindad ← emzquindad · meqzuindad · mezqiundad · mezqquindad · mezquidnad · mezquinadd · mezquindadd · mezquindda

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mezquina" for "mezquindad" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mezquina" is an adjective and "mezquindad" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mezquina" or "mezquindad" show up more?
"mezquindad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,395 in our Spanish list, against #44,315 for "mezquina". 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 "mezquina" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mezquindad" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,766 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mezquina" and "mezquindad" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marquina vs mezquina". 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 #6,766 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