súbitavssúbitoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,831
“súbita” frequency rank
#37,342
“súbito” frequency rank
63173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature súbita súbito
Definition Forma del femenino singular de súbito. Que ocurre rápidamente y con poca o ninguna advertencia.

Where the eye mixes súbita and súbito

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. súbita and súbito follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
súbita
6 ch
súbito

Visual trap between súbita and súbito

A purely visual mix-up. súbita ([ˈsuβ̞it̪a]) and súbito ([ˈsuβ̞it̪o]) 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 a single letter - a in “súbita” becomes o in “súbito”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

súbita is recorded at frequency rank #25,831, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈsuβ̞it̪a]. súbito is at rank #37,342, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsuβ̞it̪o].

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 63173, this pair ranks #49,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of súbita vs súbito

Shared letters: bistú. Private to "súbita": a. Private to "súbito": o.

"súbita" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "súbito" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "súbita" for "súbito" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsuβ̞it̪a] versus [ˈsuβ̞it̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "súbita" vs "súbito" - which ranks higher?
"súbita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,831 in our Spanish list, against #37,342 for "súbito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "súbita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "súbito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "súbita" and "súbito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "subís vs súbito". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,584 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