postulavspóstumaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: postula is a verb, póstuma is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“postula” is a verb and “póstuma” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,352
“postula” frequency rank
#48,634
“póstuma” frequency rank
66986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature postula póstuma
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de postular. Forma del femenino singular de póstumo.

Where the eye mixes postula and póstuma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
postula
7 ch
póstuma

Visual trap between postula and póstuma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: postula is [posˈt̪ula] while póstuma is [ˈpost̪uma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

postula is recorded at frequency rank #18,352, classified as averb, pronounced [posˈt̪ula]. póstuma is at rank #48,634, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈpost̪uma].

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 66986, this pair ranks #38,328 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of postula vs póstuma

Shared letters: apstu. Private to "postula": lo. Private to "póstuma": .

"postula" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "póstuma" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • postulaopstula · posstula · postlua · posttula · postual · postulla · posutla · potsula

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "postula" for "póstuma" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "postula" is a verb and "póstuma" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "postula" or "póstuma" show up more?
"postula" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,352 in our Spanish list, against #48,634 for "póstuma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "postula" and "póstuma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "postula" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "póstuma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,328 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "postula" and "póstuma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postulan vs póstuma". 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 #38,328 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