contadosvscortadosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,419
“contados” frequency rank
#21,955
“cortados” frequency rank
35374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contados cortados
Definition Forma del plural de contado, participio de contar. Forma del plural de cortado, participio de cortar o de cortarse.

Where the eye mixes contados and cortados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contados and cortados follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
contados
8 ch
cortados

Look-alike desk: contados vs cortados

A purely visual mix-up. contados ([kõn̪ˈt̪að̞os]) and cortados ([koɾˈt̪að̞os]) 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 a single letter - n in “contados” becomes r in “cortados”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contados is recorded at frequency rank #13,419, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪að̞os]. cortados is at rank #21,955, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [koɾˈt̪að̞os].

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 35374, this pair ranks #186,445 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contados vs cortados

Shared letters: acdost. Private to "contados": n. Private to "cortados": r.

"contados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "cortados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contados ← ccontados · cnotados · conatdos · conntados · contaddos · contadoss · contadso · contaods
  • cortados ← ccortados · coratdos · corrtados · cortaddos · cortadoss · cortadso · cortaods · cortdaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contados" and "cortados" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪ˈt̪að̞os] versus [koɾˈt̪að̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contados" or "cortados"?
"contados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,419 in our Spanish list, against #21,955 for "cortados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cortados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,445 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contados" and "cortados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cortador vs cortados". 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 #186,445 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