pontevsposeeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,639
“ponte” frequency rank
#2,898
“posee” frequency rank
7537
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ponte posee
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de ponerse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de poseer.

Where the eye mixes ponte and posee

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

5 ch
ponte
5 ch
posee

Visual trap between ponte and posee

A purely visual mix-up. ponte ([ˈpõn̪t̪e]) and posee ([poˈsee]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7537, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ponte is recorded at frequency rank #4,639, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpõn̪t̪e]. posee is at rank #2,898, tagged as averb, pronounced [poˈsee].

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 7537, this pair ranks #307,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ponte vs posee

Shared letters: eop. Private to "ponte": nt. Private to "posee": s.

"ponte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "posee" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ponteopnte · pnote · ponet · ponnte · pontte · potne · pponte
  • poseeopsee · pocee · poese · possee · pposee · psoee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ponte" for "posee" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpõn̪t̪e] versus [poˈsee]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ponte" or "posee"?
"posee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,898 in our Spanish list, against #4,639 for "ponte". 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 "ponte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "posee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ponte" and "posee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pence vs ponte". 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 #307,722 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