alteradovsaterradoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,535
“alterado” frequency rank
#40,142
“aterrado” frequency rank
55677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alterado aterrado
Definition Participio de alterar o de alterarse. Participio de aterrar.

Where the eye mixes alterado and aterrado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alterado (VCCVCVCV) and aterrado (VCVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
alterado
8 ch
aterrado

Look-alike desk: alterado vs aterrado

A purely visual mix-up. alterado ([al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o]) and aterrado ([at̪eˈrað̞o]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alterado is recorded at frequency rank #15,535, classified as averb, pronounced [al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o]. aterrado is at rank #40,142, tagged as averb, pronounced [at̪eˈrað̞o].

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 55677, this pair ranks #77,853 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alterado vs aterrado

Shared letters: adeort. Private to "alterado": l. Private to "aterrado": -.

"alterado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "aterrado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alterado ← aletrado · allterado · alteardo · alteraddo · alteraod · alterdao · alterrado · altreado
  • aterrado ← aetrrado · aterado · aterardo · aterraddo · aterraod · aterrdao · atrerado · atterrado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alterado" and "aterrado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([al̪t̪eˈɾað̞o] versus [at̪eˈrað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alterado" or "aterrado" show up more?
"alterado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,535 in our Spanish list, against #40,142 for "aterrado". 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 "alterado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aterrado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,853 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alterado" and "aterrado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aterrado 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 #77,853 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