Which to use
“afecta” is a verb and “afectado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,643
- “afecta” frequency rank
- #5,576
- “afectado” frequency rank
- 8219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | afecta | afectado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de afectar. | afectado ¦ plural: afectados ¦ femenino: afectada ¦ femenino plural: afectadas |
Where the eye mixes afecta and afectado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: afecta vs afectado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: afecta is [aˈfekt̪a] while afectado is [afekˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “afecta” sits inside “afectado”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
afecta is recorded at frequency rank #2,643, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈfekt̪a]. afectado is at rank #5,576, tagged as anadj, pronounced [afekˈt̪að̞o].
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 8219, this pair ranks #305,660 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of afecta vs afectado
Shared letters: aceft. Private to "afecta": -. Private to "afectado": do.
"afecta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "afectado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "afecta" for "afectado" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "afecta" or "afectado" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "afecta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "afectado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #305,660 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "afecta" and "afectado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afectado vs atestado". 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 #305,660 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.