afiladovsancladoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: afilado is a adjective, anclado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“afilado” is an adjective and “anclado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,315
“afilado” frequency rank
#32,493
“anclado” frequency rank
62808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afilado anclado
Definition Que cuenta con filo o borde cortante. Participio de anclar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set afilado and anclado apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
afilado
7 ch
anclado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: afilado is [afiˈlað̞o] while anclado is [ãŋˈklað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

afilado is recorded at frequency rank #30,315, classified as anadj, pronounced [afiˈlað̞o]. anclado is at rank #32,493, tagged as averb, pronounced [ãŋˈklað̞o].

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 62808, this pair ranks #50,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of afilado vs anclado

Shared letters: adlo. Private to "afilado": fi. Private to "anclado": cn.

"afilado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "anclado" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afiladoaffilado · afialdo · afiladdo · afilaod · afildao · afillado · afliado · aiflado
  • ancladoacnlado · ancaldo · ancclado · ancladdo · anclaod · ancldao · ancllado · anlcado

Frequency comparison

afilado#30,315
anclado#32,493

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "afilado" and "anclado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "afilado" is an adjective and "anclado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "afilado" or "anclado"?
"afilado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,315 in our Spanish list, against #32,493 for "anclado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering afilado vs anclado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “afilado”; for a verb, it's “anclado”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “afilado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list