borradovsborrandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,796
“borrado” frequency rank
#25,160
“borrando” frequency rank
35956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature borrado borrando
Definition Participio de borrar. Gerundio de borrar.

Where the eye mixes borrado and borrando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. borrado runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against borrando's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
borrado
8 ch
borrando

Why the eye confuses borrado with borrando

A purely visual mix-up. borrado ([boˈrað̞o]) and borrando ([boˈrãn̪d̪o]) 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 35956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

borrado is recorded at frequency rank #10,796, classified as averb, pronounced [boˈrað̞o]. borrando is at rank #25,160, tagged as averb, pronounced [boˈrãn̪d̪o].

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 35956, this pair ranks #183,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of borrado vs borrando

Shared letters: abdor. Private to "borrado": -. Private to "borrando": n.

"borrado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "borrando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • borrado ← bborrado · borado · borardo · borraddo · borraod · borrdao · brorado · obrrado
  • borrando ← bborrando · borando · borarndo · borradno · borranddo · borranndo · borranod · borrnado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "borrado" and "borrando" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([boˈrað̞o] versus [boˈrãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "borrado" or "borrando"?
"borrado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,796 in our Spanish list, against #25,160 for "borrando". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "borrado" and "borrando" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "borrado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "borrando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #183,265 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "borrado" and "borrando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bordeando vs borrando". 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 #183,265 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