distinguidasvsdistinguidoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#48,960
“distinguidas” frequency rank
#13,890
“distinguido” frequency rank
62850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distinguidas distinguido
Definition Forma del femenino plural de distinguido, participio de distinguir. Participio de distinguir.

Where the eye mixes distinguidas and distinguido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. distinguidas runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCVVCVC) against distinguido's 11 (CVCCVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
distinguidas
11 ch
distinguido

Look-alike desk: distinguidas vs distinguido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: distinguidas is [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgið̞as] while distinguido is [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgið̞o]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

distinguidas is recorded at frequency rank #48,960, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgið̞as]. distinguido is at rank #13,890, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪ist̪ĩŋˈgið̞o].

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 62850, this pair ranks #50,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of distinguidas vs distinguido

Shared letters: dginstu. Private to "distinguidas": a. Private to "distinguido": o.

"distinguidas" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVC  ·  "distinguido" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • distinguidas ← ddistinguidas · disitnguidas · disstinguidas · distignuidas · distingguidas · distingiudas · distingudias · distinguiads
  • distinguido ← ddistinguido · disitnguido · disstinguido · distignuido · distingguido · distingiudo · distingudio · distinguiddo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "distinguidas" and "distinguido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "distinguidas" is a participle and "distinguido" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "distinguidas" vs "distinguido" - which ranks higher?
"distinguido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,890 in our Spanish list, against #48,960 for "distinguidas". 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 "distinguidas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "distinguido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,661 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distinguidas" and "distinguido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distinguía vs distinguidas". 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 #50,661 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