aprovechabavsaprovechadaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#37,959
“aprovechaba” frequency rank
#34,880
“aprovechada” frequency rank
72839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aprovechaba aprovechada
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de aprovechar o de aprovecharse. Forma del femenino de aprovechado, participio de aprovechar o de aprovecharse.

Where the eye mixes aprovechaba and aprovechada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. aprovechaba and aprovechada follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
aprovechaba
11 ch
aprovechada

Visual trap between aprovechaba and aprovechada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aprovechaba is [apɾoβ̞eˈt͡ʃaβ̞a] while aprovechada is [apɾoβ̞eˈt͡ʃað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “aprovechaba” becomes d in “aprovechada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aprovechaba is recorded at frequency rank #37,959, classified as averb, pronounced [apɾoβ̞eˈt͡ʃaβ̞a]. aprovechada is at rank #34,880, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [apɾoβ̞eˈt͡ʃað̞a].

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 72839, this pair ranks #24,546 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aprovechaba vs aprovechada

Shared letters: acehoprv. Private to "aprovechaba": b. Private to "aprovechada": d.

"aprovechaba" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCV  ·  "aprovechada" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aprovechaba ← aporvechaba · approvechaba · aprobechaba · aproevchaba · aprovcehaba · aprovecahba · aprovecchaba · aprovechaab
  • aprovechada ← aporvechada · approvechada · aprobechada · aproevchada · aprovcehada · aprovecahda · aprovecchada · aprovechaad

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aprovechaba" for "aprovechada" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aprovechaba" is a verb and "aprovechada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "aprovechaba" vs "aprovechada" - which ranks higher?
"aprovechada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,880 in our Spanish list, against #37,959 for "aprovechaba". 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 "aprovechaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aprovechada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,546 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aprovechaba" and "aprovechada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aprovechaba vs aprovechará". 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 #24,546 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