degradavsdegradarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,041
“degrada” frequency rank
#44,099
“degradar” frequency rank
82140
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degrada degradar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de degradar. Reducir o bajar de grado.

Where the eye mixes degrada and degradar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. degrada runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against degradar's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
degrada
8 ch
degradar

Visual trap between degrada and degradar

A purely visual mix-up. degrada ([d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a]) and degradar ([d̪eɣ̞ɾaˈð̞aɾ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “degrada” sits inside “degradar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degrada is recorded at frequency rank #38,041, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a]. degradar is at rank #44,099, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪eɣ̞ɾaˈð̞aɾ].

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 82140, this pair ranks #9,562 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of degrada vs degradar

Shared letters: adegr. Private to "degrada": -. Private to "degradar": -.

"degrada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "degradar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degrada ← ddegrada · degarda · deggrada · degraad · degradda · degrdaa · degrrada · dergada
  • degradar ← ddegradar · degardar · deggradar · degraadr · degradarr · degraddar · degradra · degrdaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "degrada" for "degradar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eˈɣ̞ɾað̞a] versus [d̪eɣ̞ɾaˈð̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "degrada" or "degradar"?
"degrada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,041 in our Spanish list, against #44,099 for "degradar". 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 "degrada" and "degradar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "degrada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "degradar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,562 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "degrada" and "degradar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degrada vs desagrada". 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 #9,562 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