contandovscostadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contando is a verb, costado is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contando” is a verb and “costado” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,065
“contando” frequency rank
#4,694
“costado” frequency rank
8759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contando costado
Definition Gerundio de contar. Cada una de las dos partes laterales del cuerpo humano, a la izquierda y la derecha, entre el pecho y la espalda, desde el hombro hasta la cadera.

Where the eye mixes contando and costado

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

8 ch
contando
7 ch
costado

Look-alike desk: contando vs costado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contando is [kõn̪ˈt̪ãn̪d̪o] while costado is [kosˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contando is recorded at frequency rank #4,065, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]. costado is at rank #4,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kosˈt̪að̞o].

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 8759, this pair ranks #304,012 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contando vs costado

Shared letters: acdot. Private to "contando": n. Private to "costado": s.

"contando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "costado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contandoccontando · cnotando · conatndo · conntando · contadno · contanddo · contanndo · contanod
  • costadoccostado · cosatdo · cosstado · costaddo · costaod · costdao · costtado · cotsado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contando" and "costado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contando" is a verb and "costado" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contando" or "costado"?
"contando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,065 in our Spanish list, against #4,694 for "costado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "contando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "costado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,012 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contando" and "costado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cortador vs costado". 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 #304,012 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