contagiosavscontagiosoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,193
“contagiosa” frequency rank
#29,994
“contagioso” frequency rank
55187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contagiosa contagioso
Definition Forma del femenino de contagioso. Se dice de una enfermedad, como un virus o una infección, que se puede contagiar, comunicar, pegar o transmitir de un ser vivo a otro.

Where the eye mixes contagiosa and contagioso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
contagiosa
10 ch
contagioso

Look-alike desk: contagiosa vs contagioso

A purely visual mix-up. contagiosa ([kõn̪t̪aˈxjosa]) and contagioso ([kõn̪t̪aˈxjoso]) 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 - a in “contagiosa” becomes o in “contagioso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contagiosa is recorded at frequency rank #25,193, classified as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪t̪aˈxjosa]. contagioso is at rank #29,994, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪t̪aˈxjoso].

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 55187, this pair ranks #80,025 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contagiosa vs contagioso

Shared letters: acginost. Private to "contagiosa": -. Private to "contagioso": -.

"contagiosa" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCV  ·  "contagioso" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contagiosaccontagiosa · cnotagiosa · conatgiosa · conntagiosa · contaggiosa · contagioas · contagiossa · contagisoa
  • contagiosoccontagioso · cnotagioso · conatgioso · conntagioso · contaggioso · contagioos · contagiosso · contagisoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contagiosa" and "contagioso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪aˈxjosa] versus [kõn̪t̪aˈxjoso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contagiosa" or "contagioso" show up more?
"contagiosa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,193 in our Spanish list, against #29,994 for "contagioso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "contagiosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contagioso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #80,025 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contagiosa" and "contagioso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contagiado vs contagioso". 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 #80,025 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