buscabasvsbuscadaTell them apart

Quick tell: buscabas is a verb, buscada is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“buscabas” is a verb and “buscada” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,958
“buscabas” frequency rank
#34,920
“buscada” frequency rank
71878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature buscabas buscada
Definition Segunda persona del singular (tú, vos) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de buscar. El acto de buscar.

Where the eye mixes buscabas and buscada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. buscabas runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against buscada's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
buscabas
7 ch
buscada

Visual trap between buscabas and buscada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: buscabas is [busˈkaβ̞as] while buscada is [busˈkað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

buscabas is recorded at frequency rank #36,958, classified as averb, pronounced [busˈkaβ̞as]. buscada is at rank #34,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced [busˈkað̞a].

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 71878, this pair ranks #26,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of buscabas vs buscada

Shared letters: abcsu. Private to "buscabas": -. Private to "buscada": d.

"buscabas" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "buscada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • buscabas ← bbuscabas · bsucabas · bucsabas · busacbas · buscaabs · buscabass · buscabbas · buscabsa
  • buscada ← bbuscada · bsucada · bucsada · busacda · buscaad · buscadda · busccada · buscdaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "buscabas" for "buscada" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "buscabas" is a verb and "buscada" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "buscabas" or "buscada" show up more?
"buscada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,920 in our Spanish list, against #36,958 for "buscabas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "buscabas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "buscada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "buscabas" and "buscada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buscabas vs buscadas". 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 #26,561 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