Which to use
“contratada” is a participle and “contratan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,071
- “contratada” frequency rank
- #23,001
- “contratan” frequency rank
- 42072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contratada | contratan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de contratado, participio de contratar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de contratar. |
Where the eye mixes contratada and contratan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. contratada runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCVCV) against contratan's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contratada and contratan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contratada is [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞a] while contratan is [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾat̪ãn]. 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 (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contratada is recorded at frequency rank #19,071, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈt̪að̞a]. contratan is at rank #23,001, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾat̪ãn].
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 42072, this pair ranks #150,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contratada vs contratan
Shared letters: acnort. Private to "contratada": d. Private to "contratan": -.
"contratada" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV · "contratan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contratada ← ccontratada · cnotratada · conntratada · conrtatada · contartada · contraatda · contrataad · contratadda
- contratan ← ccontratan · cnotratan · conntratan · conrtatan · contartan · contraatn · contratann · contratna
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contratada" for "contratan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contratada" or "contratan"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contratada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contratan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contratada" and "contratan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrastan vs contratan". 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 #150,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.