Which to use
“delegada” is a participle and “delegado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,505
- “delegada” frequency rank
- #7,290
- “delegado” frequency rank
- 25795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delegada | delegado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de delegado, participio de delegar. | Aquel sobre el que se delega un cargo o una responsabilidad. |
Where the eye mixes delegada and delegado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. delegada and delegado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses delegada with delegado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delegada is [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞a] while delegado is [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “delegada” becomes o in “delegado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delegada is recorded at frequency rank #18,505, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞a]. delegado is at rank #7,290, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪eleˈɣ̞að̞o].
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 25795, this pair ranks #234,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delegada vs delegado
Shared letters: adegl. Private to "delegada": -. Private to "delegado": o.
"delegada" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "delegado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delegada" and "delegado" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "delegada" or "delegado" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "delegada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delegado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delegada" and "delegado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delegada vs delegadas". 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 #234,768 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.