cargavscargabaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,469
“carga” frequency rank
#29,964
“cargaba” frequency rank
31433
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carga cargaba
Definition Acción o efecto de cargar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cargar.

Where the eye mixes carga and cargaba

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

5 ch
carga
7 ch
cargaba

Visual trap between carga and cargaba

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: carga is [ˈkaɾɣ̞a] while cargaba is [kaɾˈɣ̞aβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “carga” sits inside “cargaba”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carga is recorded at frequency rank #1,469, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾɣ̞a]. cargaba is at rank #29,964, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaɾˈɣ̞aβ̞a].

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 31433, this pair ranks #207,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carga vs cargaba

Shared letters: acgr. Private to "carga": -. Private to "cargaba": b.

"carga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cargaba" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cargaacrga · cagra · carag · cargga · carrga · ccarga · craga
  • cargabaacrgaba · cagraba · caragba · cargaab · cargabba · cargava · cargbaa · carggaba

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "carga" and "cargaba" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "carga" is a noun and "cargaba" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "carga" or "cargaba"?
"carga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,469 in our Spanish list, against #29,964 for "cargaba". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "carga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cargaba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,102 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carga" and "cargaba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cargaba vs carnada". 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 #207,102 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