cuidadavscursadaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,009
“cuidada” frequency rank
#47,044
“cursada” frequency rank
77053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuidada cursada
Definition Forma del femenino de cuidado, participio de cuidar o de cuidarse. Forma del femenino de cursado, participio de cursar.

Where the eye mixes cuidada and cursada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cuidada
7 ch
cursada

Why the eye confuses cuidada with cursada

A purely visual mix-up. cuidada ([kwiˈð̞að̞a]) and cursada ([kuɾˈsað̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuidada is recorded at frequency rank #30,009, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [kwiˈð̞að̞a]. cursada is at rank #47,044, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kuɾˈsað̞a].

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 77053, this pair ranks #16,683 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cuidada vs cursada

Shared letters: acdu. Private to "cuidada": i. Private to "cursada": rs.

"cuidada" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "cursada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuidadaccuidada · ciudada · cudiada · cuiadda · cuidaad · cuidadda · cuiddaa · cuiddada
  • cursadaccursada · crusada · curasda · currsada · cursaad · cursadda · cursdaa · curssada

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cuidada" for "cursada" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kwiˈð̞að̞a] versus [kuɾˈsað̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cuidada" or "cursada"?
"cuidada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,009 in our Spanish list, against #47,044 for "cursada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cursada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,683 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuidada" and "cursada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carnada vs cursada". 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 #16,683 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