cuidabavscuidadaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cuidaba is a verb, cuidada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cuidaba” is a verb and “cuidada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,587
“cuidaba” frequency rank
#30,009
“cuidada” frequency rank
55596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuidaba cuidada
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cuidar o de cuidarse. Forma del femenino de cuidado, participio de cuidar o de cuidarse.

Where the eye mixes cuidaba and cuidada

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

7 ch
cuidaba
7 ch
cuidada

Visual trap between cuidaba and cuidada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cuidaba is [kwiˈð̞aβ̞a] while cuidada is [kwiˈð̞að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “cuidaba” becomes d in “cuidada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuidaba is recorded at frequency rank #25,587, classified as averb, pronounced [kwiˈð̞aβ̞a]. cuidada is at rank #30,009, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kwiˈð̞að̞a].

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 55596, this pair ranks #78,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cuidaba vs cuidada

Shared letters: acdiu. Private to "cuidaba": b. Private to "cuidada": -.

"cuidaba" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "cuidada" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuidabaccuidaba · ciudaba · cudiaba · cuiadba · cuidaab · cuidabba · cuidava · cuidbaa
  • cuidadaccuidada · ciudada · cudiada · cuiadda · cuidaad · cuidadda · cuiddaa · cuiddada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cuidaba" and "cuidada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cuidaba" is a verb and "cuidada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cuidaba" or "cuidada"?
"cuidaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,587 in our Spanish list, against #30,009 for "cuidada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cuidaba" and "cuidada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,192 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuidaba" and "cuidada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuajada vs cuidada". 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 #78,192 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