santavsstaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#636
“santa” frequency rank
#14,015
“sta” frequency rank
14651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature santa sta
Definition Forma del femenino singular de santo. Forma del femenino de sto: «esta».

Where the eye mixes santa and sta

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

5 ch
santa
3 ch
sta

Look-alike desk: santa vs sta

A purely visual mix-up. santa ([ˈsãn̪t̪a]) and sta (/ˈsta/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

santa is recorded at frequency rank #636, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsãn̪t̪a]. sta is at rank #14,015, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsta/.

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 14651, this pair ranks #283,309 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of santa vs sta

Shared letters: ast. Private to "santa": n. Private to "sta": -.

"santa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "sta" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • santaasnta · sanat · sannta · santta · satna · snata · ssanta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "santa" and "sta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsãn̪t̪a] versus /ˈsta/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "santa" vs "sta" - which ranks higher?
"santa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #636 in our Spanish list, against #14,015 for "sta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "santa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,309 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "santa" and "sta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sta vs stem". 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 #283,309 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