contactadovscontactarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,357
“contactado” frequency rank
#6,996
“contactar” frequency rank
30353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contactado contactar
Definition Participio de contactar. Ponerse en contacto con alguien.

Where the eye mixes contactado and contactar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
contactado
9 ch
contactar

Look-alike desk: contactado vs contactar

A purely visual mix-up. contactado ([kõn̪t̪akˈt̪að̞o]) and contactar ([kõn̪t̪akˈt̪aɾ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contactado is recorded at frequency rank #23,357, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪akˈt̪að̞o]. contactar is at rank #6,996, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪akˈt̪aɾ].

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 30353, this pair ranks #212,422 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contactado vs contactar

Shared letters: acnot. Private to "contactado": d. Private to "contactar": r.

"contactado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV  ·  "contactar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contactadoccontactado · cnotactado · conatctado · conntactado · contacatdo · contacctado · contactaddo · contactaod
  • contactarccontactar · cnotactar · conatctar · conntactar · contacatr · contacctar · contactarr · contactra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contactado" and "contactar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪akˈt̪að̞o] versus [kõn̪t̪akˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contactado" or "contactar" show up more?
"contactar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,996 in our Spanish list, against #23,357 for "contactado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contactado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contactar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,422 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contactado" and "contactar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contactado vs contactando". 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 #212,422 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