afiladovsavisadoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#30,315
“afilado” frequency rank
#17,604
“avisado” frequency rank
47919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afilado avisado
Definition Que cuenta con filo o borde cortante. Participio de avisar.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
afilado
7 ch
avisado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: afilado is [afiˈlað̞o] while avisado is [aβ̞iˈsað̞o]. 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 47919, 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]. avisado is at rank #17,604, tagged as averb, pronounced [aβ̞iˈsað̞o].

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 47919, this pair ranks #117,350 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of afilado vs avisado

Shared letters: adio. Private to "afilado": fl. Private to "avisado": sv.

"afilado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "avisado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afiladoaffilado · afialdo · afiladdo · afilaod · afildao · afillado · afliado · aiflado
  • avisadoabisado · aivsado · aviasdo · avisaddo · avisaod · avisdao · avissado · avsiado

Frequency comparison

afilado#30,315
avisado#17,604

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "afilado" and "avisado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "afilado" is an adjective and "avisado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "afilado" or "avisado"?
"avisado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,604 in our Spanish list, against #30,315 for "afilado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering afilado vs avisado

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 “avisado”.
  • 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