Which to use
“delicado” and “derivado” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,101
- “delicado” frequency rank
- #9,970
- “derivado” frequency rank
- 18071
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delicado | derivado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suave, blando, tierno. | Elemento que procede o tiene su origen en otro. |
Where the eye mixes delicado and derivado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. delicado and derivado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between delicado and derivado
A purely visual mix-up. delicado ([d̪eliˈkað̞o]) and derivado ([d̪eɾiˈβ̞að̞o]) 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 18071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delicado is recorded at frequency rank #8,101, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪eliˈkað̞o]. derivado is at rank #9,970, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪eɾiˈβ̞að̞o].
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 18071, this pair ranks #269,454 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of delicado vs derivado
Shared letters: adeio. Private to "delicado": cl. Private to "derivado": rv.
"delicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "derivado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "delicado" and "derivado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "delicado" or "derivado" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "delicado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "derivado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,454 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delicado" and "derivado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depravado vs derivado". 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 #269,454 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.