desbordavsdesbordadaConfusable pair

Quick tell: desborda is a verb, desbordada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“desborda” is a verb and “desbordada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,801
“desborda” frequency rank
#48,343
“desbordada” frequency rank
75144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desborda desbordada
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de desbordar. Forma del femenino de desbordado, participio de desbordar.

Where the eye mixes desborda and desbordada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. desborda runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against desbordada's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
desborda
10 ch
desbordada

Visual trap between desborda and desbordada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desborda is [d̪esˈβ̞oɾð̞a] while desbordada is [d̪esβ̞oɾˈð̞að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “desborda” sits inside “desbordada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desborda is recorded at frequency rank #26,801, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esˈβ̞oɾð̞a]. desbordada is at rank #48,343, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪esβ̞oɾˈð̞að̞a].

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 75144, this pair ranks #20,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of desborda vs desbordada

Shared letters: abdeors. Private to "desborda": -. Private to "desbordada": -.

"desborda" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "desbordada" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desborda ← ddesborda · debsorda · desbborda · desbodra · desborad · desbordda · desborrda · desbroda
  • desbordada ← ddesbordada · debsordada · desbbordada · desbodrada · desboradda · desbordaad · desbordadda · desborddaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "desborda" for "desbordada" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "desborda" is a verb and "desbordada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "desborda" or "desbordada"?
"desborda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,801 in our Spanish list, against #48,343 for "desbordada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "desborda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desbordada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desborda" and "desbordada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desbordada vs desbordado". 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 #20,116 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