cuidadvscuidanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,625
“cuidad” frequency rank
#15,335
“cuidan” frequency rank
36960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuidad cuidan
Definition Segunda persona del plural (vosotros, vosotras) del imperativo afirmativo de cuidar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cuidar o de cuidarse.

Where the eye mixes cuidad and cuidan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cuidad and cuidan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
cuidad
6 ch
cuidan

Visual trap between cuidad and cuidan

A purely visual mix-up. cuidad ([kwiˈð̞að̞]) and cuidan ([ˈkwið̞ãn]) 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 a single letter - d in “cuidad” becomes n in “cuidan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuidad is recorded at frequency rank #21,625, classified as averb, pronounced [kwiˈð̞að̞]. cuidan is at rank #15,335, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkwið̞ãn].

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 36960, this pair ranks #177,869 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cuidad vs cuidan

Shared letters: acdiu. Private to "cuidad": -. Private to "cuidan": n.

"cuidad" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "cuidan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuidad ← ccuidad · cudiad · cuiadd · cuidadd · cuiddad · ucidad
  • cuidan ← ccuidan · ciudan · cudian · cuiadn · cuidann · cuiddan · cuidna · ucidan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cuidad" and "cuidan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kwiˈð̞að̞] versus [ˈkwið̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cuidad" or "cuidan"?
"cuidan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,335 in our Spanish list, against #21,625 for "cuidad". 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 "cuidad" and "cuidan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,869 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuidad" and "cuidan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chida vs cuidad". 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 #177,869 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