delicadasvsdelicadosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,968
“delicadas” frequency rank
#17,940
“delicados” frequency rank
39908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delicadas delicados
Definition Forma del femenino plural de delicado. Forma del masculino plural de delicado.

Where the eye mixes delicadas and delicados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. delicadas and delicados follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
delicadas
9 ch
delicados

Why the eye confuses delicadas with delicados

A purely visual mix-up. delicadas ([d̪eliˈkað̞as]) and delicados ([d̪eliˈkað̞os]) 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 - a in “delicadas” becomes o in “delicados”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delicadas is recorded at frequency rank #21,968, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪eliˈkað̞as]. delicados is at rank #17,940, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪eliˈkað̞os].

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 39908, this pair ranks #161,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delicadas vs delicados

Shared letters: acdeils. Private to "delicadas": -. Private to "delicados": o.

"delicadas" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "delicados" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delicadas ← ddelicadas · deilcadas · delciadas · deliacdas · delicaads · delicadass · delicaddas · delicadsa
  • delicados ← ddelicados · deilcados · delciados · deliacdos · delicaddos · delicadoss · delicadso · delicaods

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delicadas" and "delicados" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([d̪eliˈkað̞as] versus [d̪eliˈkað̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "delicadas" or "delicados"?
"delicados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,940 in our Spanish list, against #21,968 for "delicadas". 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 "delicadas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "delicados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,999 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delicadas" and "delicados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delegadas vs delicadas". 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 #161,999 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