contadavscontadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: contada is a participle, contado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contada” is a participle and “contado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,948
“contada” frequency rank
#4,873
“contado” frequency rank
26821
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contada contado
Definition Forma del femenino de contado, participio de contar. Raro, escaso.

Where the eye mixes contada and contado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
contada
7 ch
contado

Why the eye confuses contada with contado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contada is [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞a] while contado is [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “contada” becomes o in “contado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contada is recorded at frequency rank #21,948, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞a]. contado is at rank #4,873, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞o].

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 26821, this pair ranks #229,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contada vs contado

Shared letters: acdnot. Private to "contada": -. Private to "contado": -.

"contada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contadaccontada · cnotada · conatda · conntada · contaad · contadda · contdaa · conttada
  • contadoccontado · cnotado · conatdo · conntado · contaddo · contaod · contdao · conttado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contada" and "contado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contada" is a participle and "contado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contada" or "contado"?
"contado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,873 in our Spanish list, against #21,948 for "contada". 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 "contada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contada" and "contado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constará vs contada". 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 #229,783 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