promesavspropensaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,950
“promesa” frequency rank
#42,093
“propensa” frequency rank
46043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promesa propensa
Definition Seguridad dada a alguien de palabra o por escrito de que se dará o se hará algo. Forma del femenino singular de propenso.

Where the eye mixes promesa and propensa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. promesa runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against propensa's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
promesa
8 ch
propensa

Why the eye confuses promesa with propensa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: promesa is [pɾoˈmesa] while propensa is [pɾoˈpẽnsa]. 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 46043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promesa is recorded at frequency rank #3,950, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɾoˈmesa]. propensa is at rank #42,093, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pɾoˈpẽnsa].

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 46043, this pair ranks #128,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promesa vs propensa

Shared letters: aeoprs. Private to "promesa": m. Private to "propensa": n.

"promesa" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "propensa" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promesa ← pormesa · ppromesa · prmoesa · proemsa · promeas · promessa · prommesa · promsea
  • propensa ← porpensa · ppropensa · proepnsa · propenas · propennsa · propesna · propnesa · proppensa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "promesa" and "propensa" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "promesa" is a noun and "propensa" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "promesa" or "propensa" show up more?
"promesa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,950 in our Spanish list, against #42,093 for "propensa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "promesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "propensa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promesa" and "propensa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "propensa vs propensas". 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 #128,009 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