primavsprimerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: prima is a noun, primer is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,284
“prima” frequency rank
#195
“primer” frequency rank
3479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prima primer
Definition Cantidad de dinero que se da a alguien como incentivo a cambio de cumplir ciertas condiciones en un trabajo. Variante de primero (que ocupa el lugar uno en una serie, inmediatamente antes del segundo elemento).

Where the eye mixes prima and primer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
prima
6 ch
primer

Look-alike desk: prima vs primer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prima is [ˈpɾima] while primer is [pɾiˈmeɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prima is recorded at frequency rank #3,284, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɾima]. primer is at rank #195, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pɾiˈmeɾ].

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 3479, this pair ranks #318,221 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prima vs primer

Shared letters: impr. Private to "prima": a. Private to "primer": e.

"prima" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "primer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • primapirma · pprima · priam · primma · prmia · prrima · rpima
  • primerpirmer · pprimer · priemr · primerr · primmer · primre · prmier · prrimer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prima" and "primer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prima" is a noun and "primer" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prima" or "primer" show up more?
"primer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #195 in our Spanish list, against #3,284 for "prima". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prima" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "primer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,221 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prima" and "primer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prima vs prius". 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 #318,221 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