Which to use
“contaminados” is a participle and “contaminando” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,301
- “contaminados” frequency rank
- #44,071
- “contaminando” frequency rank
- 72372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contaminados | contaminando |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de contaminado, participio de contaminar. | Gerundio de contaminar. |
Where the eye mixes contaminados and contaminando
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. contaminados (CVCCVCVCVCVC) and contaminando (CVCCVCVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between contaminados and contaminando
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contaminados is [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞os] while contaminando is [kõn̪t̪amiˈnãn̪d̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contaminados is recorded at frequency rank #28,301, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪t̪amiˈnað̞os]. contaminando is at rank #44,071, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪amiˈnãn̪d̪o].
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 72372, this pair ranks #25,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contaminados vs contaminando
Shared letters: acdimnot. Private to "contaminados": s. Private to "contaminando": -.
"contaminados" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVC · "contaminando" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- contaminados ← ccontaminados · cnotaminados · conatminados · conntaminados · contaimnados · contamiandos · contaminaddos · contaminadoss
- contaminando ← ccontaminando · cnotaminando · conatminando · conntaminando · contaimnando · contamianndo · contaminadno · contaminanddo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contaminados" for "contaminando" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contaminados" or "contaminando" show up more?
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 "contaminados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contaminados" and "contaminando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contaminan 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 #25,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.