Which to use
“cántaros” is a noun and “contados” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,460
- “cántaros” frequency rank
- #13,419
- “contados” frequency rank
- 59879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cántaros | contados |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de cántaro. | Forma del plural de contado, participio de contar. |
Where the eye mixes cántaros and contados
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cántaros and contados follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cántaros vs contados
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cántaros is [ˈkãn̪t̪aɾos] while contados is [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cántaros is recorded at frequency rank #46,460, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãn̪t̪aɾos]. contados is at rank #13,419, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞os].
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 59879, this pair ranks #60,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cántaros vs contados
Shared letters: acnost. Private to "cántaros": rá. Private to "contados": d.
"cántaros" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "contados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contados ← ccontados · cnotados · conatdos · conntados · contaddos · contadoss · contadso · contaods
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cántaros" for "contados" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cántaros" or "contados" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cántaros" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cántaros" and "contados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cántabro vs cántaros". 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 #60,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.