aradovsatrasoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,080
“arado” frequency rank
#17,350
“atraso” frequency rank
49430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arado atraso
Definition Instrumento agrícola formado básicamente por una pieza afilada o reja y una pieza que permite su tracción por animales o máquinas. Se emplea para abrir surcos en la tierra. Acción o efecto de atrasar y atrasarse.

Where the eye mixes arado and atraso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. arado runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against atraso's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
arado
6 ch
atraso

Look-alike desk: arado vs atraso

A purely visual mix-up. arado ([aˈɾað̞o]) and atraso ([aˈt̪ɾaso]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arado is recorded at frequency rank #32,080, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈɾað̞o]. atraso is at rank #17,350, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈt̪ɾaso].

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 49430, this pair ranks #108,908 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arado vs atraso

Shared letters: aor. Private to "arado": d. Private to "atraso": st.

"arado" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "atraso" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arado ← aardo · araddo · araod · ardao · arrado · raado
  • atraso ← artaso · atarso · atraos · atrasso · atrraso · atrsao · attraso · taraso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arado" for "atraso" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈɾað̞o] versus [aˈt̪ɾaso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "arado" or "atraso"?
"atraso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,350 in our Spanish list, against #32,080 for "arado". 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 "arado" and "atraso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atraso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,908 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arado" and "atraso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "añadí vs arado". 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 #108,908 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