Which to use
“costados” is a noun and “costando” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,394
- “costados” frequency rank
- #21,957
- “costando” frequency rank
- 39351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | costados | costando |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de costado. | Gerundio de costar. |
Where the eye mixes costados and costando
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between costados and costando
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: costados is [kosˈt̪að̞os] while costando is [kosˈt̪ãn̪d̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
costados is recorded at frequency rank #17,394, classified as anoun, pronounced [kosˈt̪að̞os]. costando is at rank #21,957, tagged as averb, pronounced [kosˈt̪ãn̪d̪o].
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 39351, this pair ranks #165,000 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of costados vs costando
Shared letters: acdost. Private to "costados": -. Private to "costando": n.
"costados" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "costando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "costados" for "costando" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "costados" or "costando" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "costados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,000 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "costados" and "costando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cortador vs costados". 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 #165,000 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.