cuidadovscuidaráWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cuidado is a noun, cuidará is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cuidado” is a noun and “cuidará” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,081
“cuidado” frequency rank
#38,035
“cuidará” frequency rank
39116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuidado cuidará
Definition Acción o efecto de cuidar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de cuidar o de cuidarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cuidado and cuidará apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
cuidado
7 ch
cuidará

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cuidado is [kwiˈð̞að̞o] while cuidará is [kwið̞aˈɾa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 39116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuidado is recorded at frequency rank #1,081, classified as anoun, pronounced [kwiˈð̞að̞o]. cuidará is at rank #38,035, tagged as averb, pronounced [kwið̞aˈɾa].

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 39116, this pair ranks #166,303 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cuidado vs cuidará

Shared letters: acdiu. Private to "cuidado": o. Private to "cuidará": .

"cuidado" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "cuidará" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuidadoccuidado · ciudado · cudiado · cuiaddo · cuidaddo · cuidaod · cuiddado · cuiddao

Frequency comparison

cuidado#1,081
cuidará#38,035

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cuidado" and "cuidará" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cuidado" is a noun and "cuidará" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cuidado" or "cuidará"?
"cuidado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,081 in our Spanish list, against #38,035 for "cuidará". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cuidado vs cuidará

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cuidado”; for a verb, it's “cuidará”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cuidado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list