cuadradovscuidadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,133
“cuadrado” frequency rank
#1,081
“cuidado” frequency rank
8214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuadrado cuidado
Definition Rectángulo equilátero. Acción o efecto de cuidar.

Where the eye mixes cuadrado and cuidado

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

8 ch
cuadrado
7 ch
cuidado

Why the eye confuses cuadrado with cuidado

A purely visual mix-up. cuadrado ([kwaˈð̞ɾað̞o]) and cuidado ([kwiˈð̞að̞o]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuadrado is recorded at frequency rank #7,133, classified as anoun, pronounced [kwaˈð̞ɾað̞o]. cuidado is at rank #1,081, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kwiˈð̞að̞o].

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 8214, this pair ranks #305,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cuadrado vs cuidado

Shared letters: acdou. Private to "cuadrado": r. Private to "cuidado": i.

"cuadrado" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV  ·  "cuidado" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuadradocaudrado · ccuadrado · cuadardo · cuaddrado · cuadraddo · cuadraod · cuadrdao · cuadrrado
  • cuidadoccuidado · ciudado · cudiado · cuiaddo · cuidaddo · cuidaod · cuiddado · cuiddao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cuadrado" for "cuidado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kwaˈð̞ɾað̞o] versus [kwiˈð̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cuadrado" or "cuidado"?
"cuidado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,081 in our Spanish list, against #7,133 for "cuadrado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuadrado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #305,674 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuadrado" and "cuidado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuadrado vs cuadran". 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 #305,674 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