aferradovsalegradoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,034
“aferrado” frequency rank
#39,038
“alegrado” frequency rank
78072
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aferrado alegrado
Definition Participio de aferrar o de aferrarse. Participio de alegrar.

Where the eye mixes aferrado and alegrado

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

8 ch
aferrado
8 ch
alegrado

Visual trap between aferrado and alegrado

A purely visual mix-up. aferrado ([afeˈrað̞o]) and alegrado ([aleˈɣ̞ɾað̞o]) 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 78072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aferrado is recorded at frequency rank #39,034, classified as averb, pronounced [afeˈrað̞o]. alegrado is at rank #39,038, tagged as averb, pronounced [aleˈɣ̞ɾað̞o].

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 78072, this pair ranks #15,010 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aferrado vs alegrado

Shared letters: adeor. Private to "aferrado": f. Private to "alegrado": gl.

"aferrado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "alegrado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aferradoaefrrado · aferado · aferardo · aferraddo · aferraod · aferrdao · afferrado · afrerado
  • alegradoaelgrado · alegardo · aleggrado · alegraddo · alegraod · alegrdao · alegrrado · alergado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aferrado" and "alegrado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([afeˈrað̞o] versus [aleˈɣ̞ɾað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aferrado" vs "alegrado" - which ranks higher?
"aferrado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,034 in our Spanish list, against #39,038 for "alegrado". 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 "aferrado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alegrado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,010 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aferrado" and "alegrado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aferrado vs aterrados". 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 #15,010 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