asustabavsasustadaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#46,944
“asustaba” frequency rank
#15,782
“asustada” frequency rank
62726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature asustaba asustada
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de asustar o de asustarse. Forma del femenino de asustado, participio de asustar o de asustarse.

Where the eye mixes asustaba and asustada

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

8 ch
asustaba
8 ch
asustada

Visual trap between asustaba and asustada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: asustaba is [asusˈt̪aβ̞a] while asustada is [asusˈt̪að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “asustaba” becomes d in “asustada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

asustaba is recorded at frequency rank #46,944, classified as averb, pronounced [asusˈt̪aβ̞a]. asustada is at rank #15,782, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [asusˈt̪að̞a].

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 62726, this pair ranks #51,036 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of asustaba vs asustada

Shared letters: astu. Private to "asustaba": b. Private to "asustada": d.

"asustaba" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "asustada" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • asustaba ← assustaba · assutaba · asusatba · asusstaba · asustaab · asustabba · asustava · asustbaa
  • asustada ← assustada · assutada · asusatda · asusstada · asustaad · asustadda · asustdaa · asusttada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "asustaba" and "asustada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "asustaba" is a verb and "asustada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "asustaba" or "asustada" show up more?
"asustada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,782 in our Spanish list, against #46,944 for "asustaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "asustaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asustada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,036 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "asustaba" and "asustada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acusaba vs asustaba". 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 #51,036 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