colapsavscolapsadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“colapsa” and “colapsado” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,503
“colapsa” frequency rank
#31,705
“colapsado” frequency rank
66208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colapsa colapsado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de colapsar. Participio de colapsar.

Where the eye mixes colapsa and colapsado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
colapsa
9 ch
colapsado

Why the eye confuses colapsa with colapsado

A purely visual mix-up. colapsa ([koˈlapsa]) and colapsado ([kolapˈsað̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “colapsa” sits inside “colapsado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colapsa is recorded at frequency rank #34,503, classified as averb, pronounced [koˈlapsa]. colapsado is at rank #31,705, tagged as averb, pronounced [kolapˈsað̞o].

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 66208, this pair ranks #40,469 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of colapsa vs colapsado

Shared letters: aclops. Private to "colapsa": -. Private to "colapsado": d.

"colapsa" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "colapsado" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colapsaccolapsa · cloapsa · coalpsa · colapas · colappsa · colapssa · colaspa · collapsa
  • colapsadoccolapsado · cloapsado · coalpsado · colapasdo · colappsado · colapsaddo · colapsaod · colapsdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "colapsa" for "colapsado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([koˈlapsa] versus [kolapˈsað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "colapsa" or "colapsado" show up more?
"colapsado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,705 in our Spanish list, against #34,503 for "colapsa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "colapsa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colapsado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,469 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colapsa" and "colapsado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colapsado vs colapsando". 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 #40,469 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