candadovscondadosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,048
“candado” frequency rank
#28,296
“condados” frequency rank
47344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature candado condados
Definition Cerradura suelta, encerrada en una caja metálica y que por medio de una armella sirve para cerrar cualquier tipo de puerta batiente o deslizante. Forma del plural de condado.

Where the eye mixes candado and condados

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

7 ch
candado
8 ch
condados

Visual trap between candado and condados

A purely visual mix-up. candado ([kãn̪ˈd̪að̞o]) and condados ([kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os]) 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 47344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

candado is recorded at frequency rank #19,048, classified as anoun, pronounced [kãn̪ˈd̪að̞o]. condados is at rank #28,296, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os].

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 47344, this pair ranks #120,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of candado vs condados

Shared letters: acdno. Private to "candado": -. Private to "condados": s.

"candado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "condados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • candado ← acndado · cadnado · canaddo · candaddo · candaod · canddado · canddao · canndado
  • condados ← ccondados · cnodados · codnados · conaddos · condaddos · condadoss · condadso · condaods

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "candado" for "condados" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kãn̪ˈd̪að̞o] versus [kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "candado" vs "condados" - which ranks higher?
"candado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,048 in our Spanish list, against #28,296 for "condados". 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 "candado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "condados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "candado" and "condados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condados vs cuñados". 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 #120,560 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