coladovscoladorWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: colado is a adjective, colador is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“colado” is an adjective and “colador” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,945
“colado” frequency rank
#39,644
“colador” frequency rank
65589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colado colador
Definition Sustancia pasada a través de un colador. Utensilio de cocina que dispone de unos agujeros a modo de criba o filtro de alimentos con el objeto de escurrir y separar al alimento sólido de su caldo.

Where the eye mixes colado and colador

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

6 ch
colado
7 ch
colador

Why the eye confuses colado with colador

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: colado is [koˈlað̞o] while colador is [kolaˈð̞oɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “colado” sits inside “colador”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colado is recorded at frequency rank #25,945, classified as anadj, pronounced [koˈlað̞o]. colador is at rank #39,644, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kolaˈð̞oɾ].

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 65589, this pair ranks #42,203 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of colado vs colador

Shared letters: acdlo. Private to "colado": -. Private to "colador": r.

"colado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "colador" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coladoccolado · cloado · coaldo · coladdo · colaod · coldao · oclado
  • coladorccolador · cloador · coaldor · coladdor · coladorr · coladro · colaodr · coldaor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "colado" and "colador" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "colado" is an adjective and "colador" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "colado" or "colador" show up more?
"colado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,945 in our Spanish list, against #39,644 for "colador". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "colado" and "colador" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "colado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colador" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,203 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colado" and "colador" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colador vs cortador". 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 #42,203 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