abultadovsajustadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,896
“abultado” frequency rank
#14,051
“ajustado” frequency rank
60947
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abultado ajustado
Definition Grueso, grande, de mucho bulto. Que tiene la forma o el tamaño justos o adecuados para algún propósito.

Where the eye mixes abultado and ajustado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. abultado and ajustado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
abultado
8 ch
ajustado

Visual trap between abultado and ajustado

A purely visual mix-up. abultado ([aβ̞ul̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and ajustado ([axusˈt̪að̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abultado is recorded at frequency rank #46,896, classified as anadj, pronounced [aβ̞ul̪ˈt̪að̞o]. ajustado is at rank #14,051, tagged as anadj, pronounced [axusˈt̪að̞o].

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 60947, this pair ranks #57,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abultado vs ajustado

Shared letters: adotu. Private to "abultado": bl. Private to "ajustado": js.

"abultado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "ajustado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abultado ← abbultado · ablutado · abulatdo · abulltado · abultaddo · abultaod · abultdao · abulttado
  • ajustado ← ajjustado · ajsutado · ajusatdo · ajusstado · ajustaddo · ajustaod · ajustdao · ajusttado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abultado" and "ajustado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aβ̞ul̪ˈt̪að̞o] versus [axusˈt̪að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abultado" or "ajustado"?
"ajustado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,051 in our Spanish list, against #46,896 for "abultado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abultado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ajustado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abultado" and "ajustado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abortado vs abultado". 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 #57,138 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