Which to use
“contaminado” is a verb and “contaminados” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,615
- “contaminado” frequency rank
- #28,301
- “contaminados” frequency rank
- 49916
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contaminado | contaminados |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de contaminar. | Forma del plural de contaminado, participio de contaminar. |
Where the eye mixes contaminado and contaminados
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. contaminado runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVCVCV) against contaminados's 12 (CVCCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses contaminado with contaminados
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contaminado is [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞o] while contaminados is [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contaminado” sits inside “contaminados”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contaminado is recorded at frequency rank #21,615, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞o]. contaminados is at rank #28,301, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞os].
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 49916, this pair ranks #106,130 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contaminado vs contaminados
Shared letters: acdimnot. Private to "contaminado": -. Private to "contaminados": s.
"contaminado" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCV · "contaminados" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contaminado ← ccontaminado · cnotaminado · conatminado · conntaminado · contaimnado · contamiando · contaminaddo · contaminaod
- contaminados ← ccontaminados · cnotaminados · conatminados · conntaminados · contaimnados · contamiandos · contaminaddos · contaminadoss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contaminado" for "contaminados" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contaminado" or "contaminados"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contaminado" and "contaminados" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,130 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contaminado" and "contaminados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contaminados vs contaminando". 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 #106,130 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.