Which to use
“contrabando” is a noun and “contratado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,428
- “contrabando” frequency rank
- #7,532
- “contratado” frequency rank
- 16960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrabando | contratado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Comercio o producción de mercancías prohibidas por las leyes a los productores y mercaderes particulares. | Participio de contratar. |
Where the eye mixes contrabando and contratado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contrabando runs 11 letters (CVCCCVCVCCV) against contratado's 10 (CVCCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contrabando and contratado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contrabando is [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o] while contratado is [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞o]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrabando is recorded at frequency rank #9,428, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]. contratado is at rank #7,532, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞o].
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 16960, this pair ranks #274,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contrabando vs contratado
Shared letters: acdnort. Private to "contrabando": b. Private to "contratado": -.
"contrabando" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCV · "contratado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- contrabando ← ccontrabando · cnotrabando · conntrabando · conrtabando · contarbando · contraabndo · contrabadno · contrabanddo
- contratado ← ccontratado · cnotratado · conntratado · conrtatado · contartado · contraatdo · contrataddo · contrataod
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contrabando" and "contratado" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contrabando" or "contratado" 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 "contrabando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contratado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrabando" and "contratado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrabajo vs contrabando". 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 #274,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.