represiónvsrepresivosWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,194
“represión” frequency rank
#49,907
“represivos” frequency rank
54101
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature represión represivos
Definition Acción o efecto de reprimir. Forma del plural de represivo.

Where the eye mixes represión and represivos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. represión runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against represivos's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
represión
10 ch
represivos

Visual trap between represión and represivos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: represión is [repɾeˈsjõn] while represivos is [repɾeˈsiβ̞os]. 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 54101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

represión is recorded at frequency rank #4,194, classified as anoun, pronounced [repɾeˈsjõn]. represivos is at rank #49,907, tagged as anadj, pronounced [repɾeˈsiβ̞os].

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 54101, this pair ranks #84,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of represión vs represivos

Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "represión": nó. Private to "represivos": ov.

"represión" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "represivos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • represivos ← erpresivos · repersivos · reppresivos · reprecivos · repreisvos · represibos · represiovs · represivoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "represión" and "represivos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "represión" is a noun and "represivos" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "represión" or "represivos" show up more?
"represión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,194 in our Spanish list, against #49,907 for "represivos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "represión" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "represivos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #84,792 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "represión" and "represivos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "represivas vs represivos". 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 #84,792 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