Which to use
“castigado” is a verb and “castigo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,372
- “castigado” frequency rank
- #3,463
- “castigo” frequency rank
- 14835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | castigado | castigo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de castigar. | Pena impuesta a una persona por cometer una falta o delito. |
Where the eye mixes castigado and castigo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. castigado runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against castigo's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses castigado with castigo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: castigado is [kast̪iˈɣ̞að̞o] while castigo is [kasˈt̪iɣ̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 14835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
castigado is recorded at frequency rank #11,372, classified as averb, pronounced [kast̪iˈɣ̞að̞o]. castigo is at rank #3,463, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kasˈt̪iɣ̞o].
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 14835, this pair ranks #282,543 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of castigado vs castigo
Shared letters: acgiost. Private to "castigado": d. Private to "castigo": -.
"castigado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV · "castigo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "castigado" for "castigo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "castigado" or "castigo" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "castigado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "castigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,543 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "castigado" and "castigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "castigadas vs castigado". 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 #282,543 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.