antiguavsantiguasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,665
“antigua” frequency rank
#4,053
“antiguas” frequency rank
5718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature antigua antiguas
Definition Forma del femenino de antiguo. Forma del femenino plural de antiguo.

Where the eye mixes antigua and antiguas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. antigua runs 7 letters (VCCVCVV) against antiguas's 8 (VCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
antigua
8 ch
antiguas

Look-alike desk: antigua vs antiguas

A purely visual mix-up. antigua ([ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞wa]) and antiguas ([ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞was]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “antigua” sits inside “antiguas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

antigua is recorded at frequency rank #1,665, classified as anadj, pronounced [ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞wa]. antiguas is at rank #4,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞was].

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 5718, this pair ranks #312,851 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of antigua vs antiguas

Shared letters: agintu. Private to "antigua": -. Private to "antiguas": s.

"antigua" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "antiguas" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • antiguaanitgua · anntigua · antgiua · antigau · antiggua · antiuga · anttigua · atnigua
  • antiguasanitguas · anntiguas · antgiuas · antigaus · antigguas · antiguass · antigusa · antiugas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "antigua" and "antiguas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞wa] versus [ãn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞was]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "antigua" or "antiguas" show up more?
"antigua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,665 in our Spanish list, against #4,053 for "antiguas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "antigua" and "antiguas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "antigua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "antiguas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,851 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "antigua" and "antiguas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ambiguas vs antiguas". 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 #312,851 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