colgabanvscolgadaConfusable pair

Quick tell: colgaban is a verb, colgada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“colgaban” is a verb and “colgada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,296
“colgaban” frequency rank
#18,480
“colgada” frequency rank
66776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colgaban colgada
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de colgar. Forma del femenino de colgado, participio de colgar o de colgarse.

Where the eye mixes colgaban and colgada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. colgaban runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against colgada's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
colgaban
7 ch
colgada

Visual trap between colgaban and colgada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: colgaban is [kolˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn] while colgada is [kolˈɣ̞að̞a]. 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 participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colgaban is recorded at frequency rank #48,296, classified as averb, pronounced [kolˈɣ̞aβ̞ãn]. colgada is at rank #18,480, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kolˈɣ̞að̞a].

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 66776, this pair ranks #38,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of colgaban vs colgada

Shared letters: acglo. Private to "colgaban": bn. Private to "colgada": d.

"colgaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "colgada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colgabanccolgaban · clogaban · coglaban · colagban · colgaabn · colgabann · colgabban · colgabna
  • colgadaccolgada · clogada · coglada · colagda · colgaad · colgadda · colgdaa · colggada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "colgaban" and "colgada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "colgaban" is a verb and "colgada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "colgaban" or "colgada"?
"colgada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,480 in our Spanish list, against #48,296 for "colgaban". 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 "colgaban" and "colgada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "colgaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colgada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "colgaban" and "colgada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colgaban vs cortaban". 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 #38,926 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