distraídovsdistraigaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#24,838
“distraído” frequency rank
#47,744
“distraiga” frequency rank
72582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distraído distraiga
Definition Que no presta atención, no se percata de lo que ocurre a su alrededor o vive abstraído en sus pensamientos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de distraer o de distraerse.

Where the eye mixes distraído and distraiga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. distraído and distraiga follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
distraído
9 ch
distraiga

Look-alike desk: distraído vs distraiga

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: distraído is [d̪ist̪ɾaˈið̞o] while distraiga is [d̪isˈt̪ɾajɣ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72582, 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]. distraiga is at rank #47,744, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪isˈt̪ɾajɣ̞a].

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 72582, this pair ranks #25,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of distraído vs distraiga

Shared letters: adirst. Private to "distraído": oí. Private to "distraiga": g.

"distraído" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCV  ·  "distraiga" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • distraiga ← ddistraiga · disrtaiga · disstraiga · distariga · distragia · distraiag · distraigga · distriaga

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "distraído" and "distraiga" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "distraído" is an adjective and "distraiga" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "distraído" or "distraiga" show up more?
"distraído" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,838 in our Spanish list, against #47,744 for "distraiga". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "distraído" and "distraiga" 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 "distraiga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,052 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distraído" and "distraiga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distraída vs distraiga". 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 #25,052 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