Which to use
“duplicado” is a noun and “duplicados” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,802
- “duplicado” frequency rank
- #37,047
- “duplicados” frequency rank
- 55849
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duplicado | duplicados |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Documento copiado exactamente del original por medios mecánicos o fotográficos, que tiene su misma validez legal, utilizado como respaldo para el caso de extravío o pérdida accidental. | Forma del plural de duplicado, participio de duplicar. |
Where the eye mixes duplicado and duplicados
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. duplicado runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against duplicados's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses duplicado with duplicados
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duplicado is [d̪upliˈkað̞o] while duplicados is [d̪upliˈkað̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “duplicado” sits inside “duplicados”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duplicado is recorded at frequency rank #18,802, classified as anoun, pronounced [d̪upliˈkað̞o]. duplicados is at rank #37,047, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪upliˈkað̞os].
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 55849, this pair ranks #77,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of duplicado vs duplicados
Shared letters: acdilopu. Private to "duplicado": -. Private to "duplicados": s.
"duplicado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV · "duplicados" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- duplicado ← dduplicado · dpulicado · dulpicado · dupilcado · duplciado · dupliacdo · duplicaddo · duplicaod
- duplicados ← dduplicados · dpulicados · dulpicados · dupilcados · duplciados · dupliacdos · duplicaddos · duplicadoss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "duplicado" for "duplicados" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "duplicado" or "duplicados" show up more?
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 "duplicado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duplicados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duplicado" and "duplicados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delicados vs duplicados". 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 #77,069 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.