enfríavsenfriadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“enfría” and “enfriado” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,190
“enfría” frequency rank
#45,294
“enfriado” frequency rank
74484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfría enfriado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de enfriar o de enfriarse. Participio de enfriar o de enfriarse.

Where the eye mixes enfría and enfriado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enfría runs 6 letters (VCCCVV) against enfriado's 8 (VCCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
enfría
8 ch
enfriado

Look-alike desk: enfría vs enfriado

A purely visual mix-up. enfría ([ẽɱˈfɾia]) and enfriado ([ẽɱˈfɾjað̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfría is recorded at frequency rank #29,190, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽɱˈfɾia]. enfriado is at rank #45,294, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽɱˈfɾjað̞o].

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 74484, this pair ranks #21,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfría vs enfriado

Shared letters: aefnr. Private to "enfría": í. Private to "enfriado": dio.

"enfría" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV  ·  "enfriado" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfriadoefnriado · enffriado · enfirado · enfraido · enfriaddo · enfriaod · enfridao · enfrriado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "enfría" and "enfriado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ẽɱˈfɾia] versus [ẽɱˈfɾjað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "enfría" or "enfriado" show up more?
"enfría" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,190 in our Spanish list, against #45,294 for "enfriado". 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 "enfría" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfriado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfría" and "enfriado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfría vs enfríe". 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 #21,245 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