arriesgadavsarriesgadoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,487
“arriesgada” frequency rank
#15,280
“arriesgado” frequency rank
42767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arriesgada arriesgado
Definition Forma del femenino de arriesgado, participio de arriesgar. Participio de arriesgar.

Where the eye mixes arriesgada and arriesgado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. arriesgada and arriesgado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
arriesgada
10 ch
arriesgado

Look-alike desk: arriesgada vs arriesgado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arriesgada is [arjesˈɣ̞að̞a] while arriesgado is [arjesˈɣ̞að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “arriesgada” becomes o in “arriesgado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arriesgada is recorded at frequency rank #27,487, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [arjesˈɣ̞að̞a]. arriesgado is at rank #15,280, tagged as averb, pronounced [arjesˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 42767, this pair ranks #146,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arriesgada vs arriesgado

Shared letters: adegirs. Private to "arriesgada": -. Private to "arriesgado": o.

"arriesgada" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVCV  ·  "arriesgado" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arriesgadaariesgada · ariresgada · arreisgada · arriegsada · arriesagda · arriesgaad · arriesgadda · arriesgdaa
  • arriesgadoariesgado · ariresgado · arreisgado · arriegsado · arriesagdo · arriesgaddo · arriesgaod · arriesgdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arriesgada" and "arriesgado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arriesgada" is a participle and "arriesgado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "arriesgada" or "arriesgado"?
"arriesgado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,280 in our Spanish list, against #27,487 for "arriesgada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "arriesgada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arriesgado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arriesgada" and "arriesgado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arriesgada vs arriesgaría". 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 #146,404 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