aplicabavsaplicadaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aplicaba is a verb, aplicada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aplicaba” is a verb and “aplicada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,237
“aplicaba” frequency rank
#8,753
“aplicada” frequency rank
36990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aplicaba aplicada
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de aplicar o de aplicarse. Forma del femenino de aplicado, participio de aplicar o de aplicarse.

Where the eye mixes aplicaba and aplicada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. aplicaba and aplicada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
aplicaba
8 ch
aplicada

Look-alike desk: aplicaba vs aplicada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aplicaba is [apliˈkaβ̞a] while aplicada is [apliˈkað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “aplicaba” becomes d in “aplicada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aplicaba is recorded at frequency rank #28,237, classified as averb, pronounced [apliˈkaβ̞a]. aplicada is at rank #8,753, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [apliˈkað̞a].

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 36990, this pair ranks #177,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aplicaba vs aplicada

Shared letters: acilp. Private to "aplicaba": b. Private to "aplicada": d.

"aplicaba" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "aplicada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aplicaba ← alpicaba · apilcaba · aplciaba · apliacba · aplicaab · aplicabba · aplicava · aplicbaa
  • aplicada ← alpicada · apilcada · aplciada · apliacda · aplicaad · aplicadda · apliccada · aplicdaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aplicaba" and "aplicada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aplicaba" is a verb and "aplicada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "aplicaba" or "aplicada" show up more?
"aplicada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,753 in our Spanish list, against #28,237 for "aplicaba". 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 "aplicaba" and "aplicada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aplicaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aplicada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aplicaba" and "aplicada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aplicaba vs aplicaría". 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 #177,720 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