encabezabavsencabezadasWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#41,327
“encabezaba” frequency rank
#41,328
“encabezadas” frequency rank
82655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encabezaba encabezadas
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de encabezar. Forma del femenino plural de encabezado, participio de encabezar.

Where the eye mixes encabezaba and encabezadas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. encabezaba runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCVCV) against encabezadas's 11 (VCCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
encabezaba
11 ch
encabezadas

Why the eye confuses encabezaba with encabezadas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: encabezaba is [ẽŋkaβ̞eˈsaβ̞a] while encabezadas is [ẽŋkaβ̞eˈsað̞as]. 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 (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encabezaba is recorded at frequency rank #41,327, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋkaβ̞eˈsaβ̞a]. encabezadas is at rank #41,328, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽŋkaβ̞eˈsað̞as].

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 82655, this pair ranks #9,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of encabezaba vs encabezadas

Shared letters: abcenz. Private to "encabezaba": -. Private to "encabezadas": ds.

"encabezaba" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCV  ·  "encabezadas" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encabezabaecnabezaba · enacbezaba · encabbezaba · encabeazba · encabezaab · encabezabba · encabezbaa · encabezzaba
  • encabezadasecnabezadas · enacbezadas · encabbezadas · encabeazdas · encabezaads · encabezadass · encabezaddas · encabezadsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encabezaba" for "encabezadas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "encabezaba" is a verb and "encabezadas" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "encabezaba" or "encabezadas" show up more?
"encabezaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,327 in our Spanish list, against #41,328 for "encabezadas". 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 "encabezaba" and "encabezadas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encabezaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "encabezadas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encabezaba" and "encabezadas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encabezaba vs encabezan". 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 #9,004 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