distraídovsdistraídosTell them apart

Quick tell: distraído is a adjective, distraídos is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,838
“distraído” frequency rank
#46,501
“distraídos” frequency rank
71339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distraído distraídos
Definition Que no presta atención, no se percata de lo que ocurre a su alrededor o vive abstraído en sus pensamientos. Forma del plural de distraído, participio de distraer o de distraerse.

Where the eye mixes distraído and distraídos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. distraído runs 9 letters (CVCCCVVCV) against distraídos's 10 (CVCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
distraído
10 ch
distraídos

Look-alike desk: distraído vs distraídos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: distraído is [d̪ist̪ɾaˈið̞o] while distraídos is [d̪ist̪ɾaˈið̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “distraído” sits inside “distraídos”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

distraído is recorded at frequency rank #24,838, classified as anadj, pronounced [d̪ist̪ɾaˈið̞o]. distraídos is at rank #46,501, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪ist̪ɾaˈið̞os].

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 71339, this pair ranks #27,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of distraído vs distraídos

Shared letters: adiorstí. Private to "distraído": -. Private to "distraídos": -.

"distraído" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCV  ·  "distraídos" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "distraído" for "distraídos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "distraído" is an adjective and "distraídos" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "distraído" or "distraídos"?
"distraído" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,838 in our Spanish list, against #46,501 for "distraídos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "distraído" and "distraídos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "distraído" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "distraídos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distraído" and "distraídos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distraída vs distraídos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #27,732 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