cuidanvscuidasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,335
“cuidan” frequency rank
#28,708
“cuidas” frequency rank
44043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuidan cuidas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cuidar o de cuidarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de cuidar o de cuidarse.

Where the eye mixes cuidan and cuidas

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

6 ch
cuidan
6 ch
cuidas

Look-alike desk: cuidan vs cuidas

A purely visual mix-up. cuidan ([ˈkwið̞ãn]) and cuidas ([ˈkwið̞as]) 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 - n in “cuidan” becomes s in “cuidas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuidan is recorded at frequency rank #15,335, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkwið̞ãn]. cuidas is at rank #28,708, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkwið̞as].

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 44043, this pair ranks #139,247 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cuidan vs cuidas

Shared letters: acdiu. Private to "cuidan": n. Private to "cuidas": s.

"cuidan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "cuidas" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuidan ← ccuidan · ciudan · cudian · cuiadn · cuidann · cuiddan · cuidna · ucidan
  • cuidas ← ccuidas · ciudas · cudias · cuiads · cuidass · cuiddas · cuidsa · ucidas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cuidan" for "cuidas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkwið̞ãn] versus [ˈkwið̞as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cuidan" or "cuidas" show up more?
"cuidan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,335 in our Spanish list, against #28,708 for "cuidas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuidas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,247 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuidan" and "cuidas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuidas vs cultas". 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 #139,247 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