devastadavsdevastadorWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: devastada is a participle, devastador is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devastada” is a participle and “devastador” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,034
“devastada” frequency rank
#24,474
“devastador” frequency rank
54508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devastada devastador
Definition Forma del femenino de devastado, participio de devastar (dejar en ruinas, asolar, arrasar). Que deja en ruinas; que devasta.

Where the eye mixes devastada and devastador

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
devastada
10 ch
devastador

Visual trap between devastada and devastador

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devastada is [d̪eβ̞asˈt̪að̞a] while devastador is [d̪eβ̞ast̪aˈð̞oɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devastada is recorded at frequency rank #30,034, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪eβ̞asˈt̪að̞a]. devastador is at rank #24,474, tagged as anadj, pronounced [d̪eβ̞ast̪aˈð̞oɾ].

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 54508, this pair ranks #83,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devastada vs devastador

Shared letters: adestv. Private to "devastada": -. Private to "devastador": or.

"devastada" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "devastador" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devastadaddevastada · deavstada · debastada · devasatda · devasstada · devastaad · devastadda · devastdaa
  • devastadorddevastador · deavstador · debastador · devasatdor · devasstador · devastaddor · devastadorr · devastadro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devastada" and "devastador" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devastada" is a participle and "devastador" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "devastada" vs "devastador" - which ranks higher?
"devastador" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,474 in our Spanish list, against #30,034 for "devastada". 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 "devastada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devastador" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,014 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devastada" and "devastador" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devastador vs devastadoras". 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 #83,014 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