multavsmusaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,355
“multa” frequency rank
#14,410
“musa” frequency rank
18765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature multa musa
Definition Sanción económica que la autoridad hacendaria impone a los contribuyentes que en alguna forma han infringido la ley. Cada una de las nueve ninfas que en la mitología griega patrocinan las artes y las ciencias. Son hijas de Zeus y Mnemosine (la memoria): Calíope (de la poesía épica), Clío (de la historia), Érato (de la poesía amorosa), Euterpe (de la música), Melpómene (de la tragedia), Polimnia (de los himnos), Talía (de la comedia), Terpsícore (de la danza) y Urania (de la astronomía).

Where the eye mixes multa and musa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
multa
4 ch
musa

Visual trap between multa and musa

A purely visual mix-up. multa ([ˈmul̪t̪a]) and musa ([ˈmusa]) 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 18765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

multa is recorded at frequency rank #4,355, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmul̪t̪a]. musa is at rank #14,410, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmusa].

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 18765, this pair ranks #266,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of multa vs musa

Shared letters: amu. Private to "multa": lt. Private to "musa": s.

"multa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "musa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • multamluta · mmulta · mulat · mullta · multta · mutla · umlta
  • musammusa · msua · muas · mussa · umsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "multa" and "musa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmul̪t̪a] versus [ˈmusa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "multa" or "musa" show up more?
"multa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,355 in our Spanish list, against #14,410 for "musa". 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 "multa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "musa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "multa" and "musa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mur vs musa". 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 #266,561 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