mirabavsmírateTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,704
“miraba” frequency rank
#34,693
“mírate” frequency rank
41397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature miraba mírate
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de mirar o de mirarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de mirarse (con el pronombre «te» enclítico).

Where the eye mixes miraba and mírate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. miraba and mírate follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
miraba
6 ch
mírate

Why the eye confuses miraba with mírate

A purely visual mix-up. miraba ([miˈɾaβ̞a]) and mírate ([ˈmiɾat̪e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

miraba is recorded at frequency rank #6,704, classified as averb, pronounced [miˈɾaβ̞a]. mírate is at rank #34,693, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmiɾat̪e].

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 41397, this pair ranks #153,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of miraba vs mírate

Shared letters: amr. Private to "miraba": bi. Private to "mírate": etí.

"miraba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "mírate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miraba ← imraba · miarba · miraab · mirabba · mirava · mirbaa · mirraba · mmiraba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "miraba" for "mírate" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([miˈɾaβ̞a] versus [ˈmiɾat̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "miraba" vs "mírate" - which ranks higher?
"miraba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,704 in our Spanish list, against #34,693 for "mírate". 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 "miraba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mírate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #153,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "miraba" and "mírate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "miraste vs mírate". 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 #153,868 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