contemporáneasvscontemporáneosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,963
“contemporáneas” frequency rank
#9,609
“contemporáneos” frequency rank
29572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contemporáneas contemporáneos
Definition Forma del femenino plural de contemporáneo. Forma del plural de contemporáneo.

Where the eye mixes contemporáneas and contemporáneos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 13 letters in sequence. contemporáneas and contemporáneos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

14 ch
contemporáneas
14 ch
contemporáneos

Why the eye confuses contemporáneas with contemporáneos

A purely visual mix-up. contemporáneas ([kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneas]) and contemporáneos ([kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneos]) 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 “contemporáneas” becomes o in “contemporáneos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contemporáneas is recorded at frequency rank #19,963, classified as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneas]. contemporáneos is at rank #9,609, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneos].

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 29572, this pair ranks #216,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contemporáneas vs contemporáneos

Shared letters: cemnoprstá. Private to "contemporáneas": a. Private to "contemporáneos": -.

"contemporáneas" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCVVC  ·  "contemporáneos" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contemporáneas" and "contemporáneos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneas] versus [kõn̪t̪ẽmpoˈɾaneos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contemporáneas" or "contemporáneos" show up more?
"contemporáneos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,609 in our Spanish list, against #19,963 for "contemporáneas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "contemporáneas" and "contemporáneos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contemporáneas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contemporáneos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contemporáneas" and "contemporáneos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contemporáneas vs contemporáneo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #216,342 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