alimentabavsalimentadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,040
“alimentaba” frequency rank
#17,330
“alimentado” frequency rank
56370
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alimentaba alimentado
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alimentar. Participio de alimentar.

Where the eye mixes alimentaba and alimentado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. alimentaba and alimentado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
alimentaba
10 ch
alimentado

Visual trap between alimentaba and alimentado

A purely visual mix-up. alimentaba ([alimẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞a]) and alimentado ([alimẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) 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 56370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alimentaba is recorded at frequency rank #39,040, classified as averb, pronounced [alimẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞a]. alimentado is at rank #17,330, tagged as averb, pronounced [alimẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o].

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 56370, this pair ranks #74,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alimentaba vs alimentado

Shared letters: aeilmnt. Private to "alimentaba": b. Private to "alimentado": do.

"alimentaba" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCV  ·  "alimentado" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alimentaba ← ailmentaba · aliemntaba · alimenatba · alimenntaba · alimentaab · alimentabba · alimentava · alimentbaa
  • alimentado ← ailmentado · aliemntado · alimenatdo · alimenntado · alimentaddo · alimentaod · alimentdao · alimenttado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alimentaba" for "alimentado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([alimẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞a] versus [alimẽn̪ˈt̪að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alimentaba" or "alimentado"?
"alimentado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,330 in our Spanish list, against #39,040 for "alimentaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alimentaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alimentado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alimentaba" and "alimentado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alimentaba vs alimentadas". 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 #74,891 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