dañadas vs décadas, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dañadas” is a participle and “décadas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,980
“dañadas” frequency rank: #2,338
“décadas” frequency rank: 28318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dañadas	décadas
Definition	Forma del femenino plural de dañado, participio de dañar.	Forma del plural de década.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch

dañadas

7 ch

décadas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dañadas is [d̪aˈɲað̞as] while décadas is [ˈd̪ekað̞as]. 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 (participle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dañadas is recorded at frequency rank #25,980, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪aˈɲað̞as]. décadas is at rank #2,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪ekað̞as].

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 28318, this pair ranks #222,609 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dañadas vs décadas

Shared letters: ads. Private to "dañadas": ñ. Private to "décadas": cé.

"dañadas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "décadas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

dañadas#25,980

décadas#2,338

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dañadas" and "décadas" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dañadas" is a participle and "décadas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dañadas" or "décadas"?

"décadas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,338 in our Spanish list, against #25,980 for "dañadas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering dañadas vs décadas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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