delgadovsdrogadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,601
“delgado” frequency rank
#21,647
“drogado” frequency rank
27248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delgado drogado
Definition De poca anchura corporal. Se dice de quien está bajo los efectos de una droga.

Where the eye mixes delgado and drogado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. delgado (CVCCVCV) and drogado (CCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
delgado
7 ch
drogado

Visual trap between delgado and drogado

A purely visual mix-up. delgado ([d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o]) and drogado ([d̪ɾoˈɣ̞að̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delgado is recorded at frequency rank #5,601, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o]. drogado is at rank #21,647, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪ɾoˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 27248, this pair ranks #227,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delgado vs drogado

Shared letters: adgo. Private to "delgado": el. Private to "drogado": r.

"delgado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "drogado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delgado ← ddelgado · deglado · delagdo · delgaddo · delgaod · delgdao · delggado · dellgado
  • drogado ← ddrogado · dorgado · drgoado · droagdo · drogaddo · drogaod · drogdao · droggado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "delgado" for "drogado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪elˈɣ̞að̞o] versus [d̪ɾoˈɣ̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "delgado" or "drogado"?
"delgado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,601 in our Spanish list, against #21,647 for "drogado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "delgado" and "drogado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "delgado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drogado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #227,782 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delgado" and "drogado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dragado vs drogado". 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 #227,782 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