condadosvscostadosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,296
“condados” frequency rank
#17,394
“costados” frequency rank
45690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature condados costados
Definition Forma del plural de condado. Forma del plural de costado.

Where the eye mixes condados and costados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. condados and costados follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
condados
8 ch
costados

Why the eye confuses condados with costados

A purely visual mix-up. condados ([kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os]) and costados ([kosˈt̪að̞os]) 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 45690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

condados is recorded at frequency rank #28,296, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os]. costados is at rank #17,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kosˈt̪að̞os].

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 45690, this pair ranks #129,979 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of condados vs costados

Shared letters: acdos. Private to "condados": n. Private to "costados": t.

"condados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "costados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • condadosccondados · cnodados · codnados · conaddos · condaddos · condadoss · condadso · condaods
  • costadosccostados · cosatdos · cosstados · costaddos · costadoss · costadso · costaods · costdaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "condados" and "costados" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪ˈd̪að̞os] versus [kosˈt̪að̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "condados" or "costados" show up more?
"costados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,394 in our Spanish list, against #28,296 for "condados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "condados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,979 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "condados" and "costados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condados vs cuñados". 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 #129,979 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