apagadosvsatacadosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,867
“apagados” frequency rank
#14,288
“atacados” frequency rank
50155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apagados atacados
Definition Forma del plural de apagado, participio de apagar. Forma del plural de atacado, participio de atacar.

Where the eye mixes apagados and atacados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. apagados and atacados follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
apagados
8 ch
atacados

Look-alike desk: apagados vs atacados

A purely visual mix-up. apagados ([apaˈɣ̞að̞os]) and atacados ([at̪aˈkað̞os]) 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 50155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apagados is recorded at frequency rank #35,867, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [apaˈɣ̞að̞os]. atacados is at rank #14,288, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [at̪aˈkað̞os].

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 50155, this pair ranks #104,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apagados vs atacados

Shared letters: ados. Private to "apagados": gp. Private to "atacados": ct.

"apagados" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC  ·  "atacados" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apagadosaapgados · apaagdos · apagaddos · apagadoss · apagadso · apagaods · apagdaos · apaggados
  • atacadosaatcados · ataacdos · atacaddos · atacadoss · atacadso · atacaods · ataccados · atacdaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apagados" for "atacados" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([apaˈɣ̞að̞os] versus [at̪aˈkað̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "apagados" or "atacados" show up more?
"atacados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,288 in our Spanish list, against #35,867 for "apagados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apagados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atacados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,794 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagados" and "atacados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apagados vs apurados". 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 #104,794 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