centradovscontadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: centrado is a verb, contado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“centrado” is a verb and “contado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,256
“centrado” frequency rank
#4,873
“contado” frequency rank
14129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature centrado contado
Definition Participio de centrar. Raro, escaso.

Where the eye mixes centrado and contado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
centrado
7 ch
contado

Look-alike desk: centrado vs contado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centrado is [sẽn̪ˈt̪ɾað̞o] while contado is [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

centrado is recorded at frequency rank #9,256, classified as averb, pronounced [sẽn̪ˈt̪ɾað̞o]. contado is at rank #4,873, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞o].

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 14129, this pair ranks #285,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of centrado vs contado

Shared letters: acdnot. Private to "centrado": er. Private to "contado": -.

"centrado" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "contado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • centradoccentrado · cenntrado · cenrtado · centardo · centraddo · centraod · centrdao · centrrado
  • contadoccontado · cnotado · conatdo · conntado · contaddo · contaod · contdao · conttado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "centrado" for "contado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "centrado" is a verb and "contado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "centrado" vs "contado" - which ranks higher?
"contado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,873 in our Spanish list, against #9,256 for "centrado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "centrado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "centrado" and "contado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cenado vs centrado". 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 #285,293 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