Which to use
“arruga” is a noun and “arrugada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,888
- “arruga” frequency rank
- #43,989
- “arrugada” frequency rank
- 78877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arruga | arrugada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pliegue (parte que se dobla) o raya de la piel, que puede resultar de distintos factores, pero generalmente por la edad. | Forma del femenino de arrugado, participio de arrugar o de arrugarse. |
Where the eye mixes arruga and arrugada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arruga runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against arrugada's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: arruga vs arrugada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arruga is [aˈruɣ̞a] while arrugada is [aruˈɣ̞að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “arruga” sits inside “arrugada”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arruga is recorded at frequency rank #34,888, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈruɣ̞a]. arrugada is at rank #43,989, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [aruˈɣ̞að̞a].
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 78877, this pair ranks #13,818 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of arruga vs arrugada
Shared letters: agru. Private to "arruga": -. Private to "arrugada": d.
"arruga" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arrugada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "arruga" and "arrugada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "arruga" or "arrugada"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "arruga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrugada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,818 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arruga" and "arrugada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arrugada vs arrugado". 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 #13,818 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.