Which to use
“ancla” is a noun and “anclada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,555
- “ancla” frequency rank
- #43,967
- “anclada” frequency rank
- 65522
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ancla | anclada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrumento fuerte de hierro, como arpón o anzuelo de dos lengüetas, el cual afirmado al extremo del cable o gúmena, y arrojado al mar, sirve para aferrar o amarrar las embarcaciones, y asegurarlas del ímpetu de los vientos. | Forma del femenino de anclado, participio de anclar. |
Where the eye mixes ancla and anclada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ancla runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against anclada's 7 (VCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ancla vs anclada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ancla is [ˈãŋkla] while anclada is [ãŋˈklað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ancla” sits inside “anclada”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ancla is recorded at frequency rank #21,555, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈãŋkla]. anclada is at rank #43,967, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ãŋˈklað̞a].
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 65522, this pair ranks #42,392 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ancla vs anclada
Shared letters: acln. Private to "ancla": -. Private to "anclada": d.
"ancla" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "anclada" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ancla" and "anclada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ancla" or "anclada"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ancla" and "anclada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ancla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "anclada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,392 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ancla" and "anclada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anclada vs ansiada". 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 #42,392 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.