contiguavscontinúanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: contigua is a adjective, continúan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contigua” is an adjective and “continúan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,504
“contigua” frequency rank
#6,644
“continúan” frequency rank
40148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contigua continúan
Definition Forma del femenino singular de contiguo. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de continuar.

Where the eye mixes contigua and continúan

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

8 ch
contigua
9 ch
continúan

Look-alike desk: contigua vs continúan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contigua is [kõn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞wa] while continúan is [kõn̪t̪iˈnuãn]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contigua is recorded at frequency rank #33,504, classified as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪iɣ̞wa]. continúan is at rank #6,644, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪iˈnuãn].

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 40148, this pair ranks #160,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contigua vs continúan

Shared letters: acinot. Private to "contigua": gu. Private to "continúan": ú.

"contigua" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "continúan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contiguaccontigua · cnotigua · conitgua · conntigua · contgiua · contigau · contiggua · contiuga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contigua" for "continúan" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contigua" is an adjective and "continúan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contigua" or "continúan"?
"continúan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,644 in our Spanish list, against #33,504 for "contigua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "contigua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continúan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contigua" and "continúan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contigua vs contiguo". 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 #160,629 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