ahogadavsahogadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,426
“ahogada” frequency rank
#16,748
“ahogado” frequency rank
51174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ahogada ahogado
Definition Forma del femenino de ahogado¹. Que se ahoga (tiene dificultad para respirar) o sufre ahogo (aflicción).

Where the eye mixes ahogada and ahogado

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

7 ch
ahogada
7 ch
ahogado

Visual trap between ahogada and ahogado

A purely visual mix-up. ahogada ([aoˈɣ̞að̞a]) and ahogado ([aoˈɣ̞að̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “ahogada” becomes o in “ahogado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ahogada is recorded at frequency rank #34,426, classified as anadj, pronounced [aoˈɣ̞að̞a]. ahogado is at rank #16,748, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aoˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 51174, this pair ranks #99,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ahogada vs ahogado

Shared letters: adgho. Private to "ahogada": -. Private to "ahogado": -.

"ahogada" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "ahogado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ahogadaahgoada · ahhogada · ahoagda · ahogaad · ahogadda · ahogdaa · ahoggada · aohgada
  • ahogadoahgoado · ahhogado · ahoagdo · ahogaddo · ahogaod · ahogdao · ahoggado · aohgado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ahogada" for "ahogado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aoˈɣ̞að̞a] versus [aoˈɣ̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ahogada" or "ahogado" show up more?
"ahogado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,748 in our Spanish list, against #34,426 for "ahogada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ahogada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ahogado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ahogada" and "ahogado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahogada vs alocada". 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 #99,258 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