separavsseveraTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,957
“separa” frequency rank
#10,221
“severa” frequency rank
17178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature separa severa
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de separar o de separarse. Forma del femenino de severo.

Where the eye mixes separa and severa

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

6 ch
separa
6 ch
severa

Visual trap between separa and severa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: separa is [seˈpaɾa] while severa is [seˈβ̞eɾa]. 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 17178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

separa is recorded at frequency rank #6,957, classified as averb, pronounced [seˈpaɾa]. severa is at rank #10,221, tagged as anadj, pronounced [seˈβ̞eɾa].

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 17178, this pair ranks #273,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of separa vs severa

Shared letters: aers. Private to "separa": p. Private to "severa": v.

"separa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "severa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • separacepara · espara · seapra · sepaar · separra · seppara · sepraa · speara
  • severacevera · esvera · sebera · seevra · sevear · severra · sevrea · sevvera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "separa" and "severa" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "separa" is a verb and "severa" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "separa" or "severa"?
"separa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,957 in our Spanish list, against #10,221 for "severa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "separa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "severa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,236 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "separa" and "severa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "severa vs solera". 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 #273,236 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