amparavsamparadoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,330
“ampara” frequency rank
#36,395
“amparado” frequency rank
66725
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ampara amparado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de amparar. Participio de amparar o de ampararse.

Where the eye mixes ampara and amparado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
ampara
8 ch
amparado

Why the eye confuses ampara with amparado

A purely visual mix-up. ampara ([ãmˈpaɾa]) and amparado ([ãmpaˈɾað̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “ampara” sits inside “amparado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ampara is recorded at frequency rank #30,330, classified as averb, pronounced [ãmˈpaɾa]. amparado is at rank #36,395, tagged as averb, pronounced [ãmpaˈɾað̞o].

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 66725, this pair ranks #39,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ampara vs amparado

Shared letters: ampr. Private to "ampara": -. Private to "amparado": do.

"ampara" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "amparado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amparaamapra · ammpara · ampaar · amparra · amppara · ampraa · apmara · mapara
  • amparadoamaprado · ammparado · ampaardo · amparaddo · amparaod · ampardao · amparrado · ampparado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ampara" and "amparado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ãmˈpaɾa] versus [ãmpaˈɾað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ampara" vs "amparado" - which ranks higher?
"ampara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,330 in our Spanish list, against #36,395 for "amparado". 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 "ampara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amparado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ampara" and "amparado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amarra vs ampara". 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 #39,057 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