cansadavscontadaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,697
“cansada” frequency rank
#21,948
“contada” frequency rank
27645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cansada contada
Definition Forma del femenino de cansado. Forma del femenino de contado, participio de contar.

Where the eye mixes cansada and contada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cansada
7 ch
contada

Why the eye confuses cansada with contada

A purely visual mix-up. cansada ([kãnˈsað̞a]) and contada ([kõn̪ˈt̪að̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cansada is recorded at frequency rank #5,697, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kãnˈsað̞a]. contada is at rank #21,948, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞a].

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 27645, this pair ranks #225,841 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cansada vs contada

Shared letters: acdn. Private to "cansada": s. Private to "contada": ot.

"cansada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cansadaacnsada · canasda · cannsada · cansaad · cansadda · cansdaa · canssada · casnada
  • contadaccontada · cnotada · conatda · conntada · contaad · contadda · contdaa · conttada

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cansada" for "contada" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kãnˈsað̞a] versus [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cansada" vs "contada" - which ranks higher?
"cansada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,697 in our Spanish list, against #21,948 for "contada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cansada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #225,841 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cansada" and "contada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constará vs contada". 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 #225,841 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