skavsstaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#40,554
“ska” frequency rank
#14,015
“sta” frequency rank
54569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ska sta
Definition Género musical originario de Jamaica que surgió a finales de la década de 1950 y fue popularizado durante la primera mitad de los años 1960, que deriva principalmente de la fusión de ritmos caribeños como el mento y el calipso y ritmos propios de los Estados Unidos, como el R&B, el jazz y el soul de la época, siendo el precursor del rocksteady y más tarde del reggae. Forma del femenino de sto: «esta».

Where the eye mixes ska and sta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ska
3 ch
sta

Why the eye confuses ska with sta

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ska is [ˈska] while sta is /ˈsta/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “ska” becomes t in “sta”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ska is recorded at frequency rank #40,554, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈska]. 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 54569, this pair ranks #82,733 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ska vs sta

Shared letters: as. Private to "ska": k. Private to "sta": t.

"ska" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "sta" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ska" and "sta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ska" is a noun and "sta" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ska" or "sta" show up more?
"sta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,015 in our Spanish list, against #40,554 for "ska". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ska" 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 #82,733 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ska" and "sta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sila vs ska". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #82,733 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