completandovscomplicandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,791
“completando” frequency rank
#42,892
“complicando” frequency rank
67683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature completando complicando
Definition Gerundio de completar. Gerundio de complicar.

Where the eye mixes completando and complicando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. completando and complicando follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
completando
11 ch
complicando

Why the eye confuses completando with complicando

A purely visual mix-up. completando ([kõmpleˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]) and complicando ([kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

completando is recorded at frequency rank #24,791, classified as averb, pronounced [kõmpleˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]. complicando is at rank #42,892, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o].

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 67683, this pair ranks #36,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of completando vs complicando

Shared letters: acdlmnop. Private to "completando": et. Private to "complicando": i.

"completando" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCV  ·  "complicando" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • completando ← ccompletando · cmopletando · comlpetando · commpletando · compeltando · compleatndo · completadno · completanddo
  • complicando ← ccomplicando · cmoplicando · comlpicando · commplicando · compilcando · complciando · compliacndo · complicadno

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "completando" and "complicando" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõmpleˈt̪ãn̪d̪o] versus [kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "completando" or "complicando"?
"completando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,791 in our Spanish list, against #42,892 for "complicando". 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 "completando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "complicando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "completando" and "complicando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "complican vs complicando". 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 #36,502 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