engañavsengañadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,587
“engaña” frequency rank
#12,145
“engañado” frequency rank
26732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature engaña engañado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de engañar. Participio de engañar o de engañarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set engaña and engañado apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
engaña
8 ch
engañado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. engaña ([ẽŋˈgaɲa]) and engañado ([ẽŋgaˈɲað̞o]) 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 extra letter(s) - “engaña” sits inside “engañado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

engaña is recorded at frequency rank #14,587, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲa]. engañado is at rank #12,145, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽŋgaˈɲað̞o].

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 26732, this pair ranks #230,230 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of engaña vs engañado

Shared letters: aegnñ. Private to "engaña": -. Private to "engañado": do.

"engaña" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "engañado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

engaña#14,587
engañado#12,145

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "engaña" and "engañado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ẽŋˈgaɲa] versus [ẽŋgaˈɲað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "engaña" or "engañado"?
"engañado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,145 in our Spanish list, against #14,587 for "engaña". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering engaña vs engañado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “engaña” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list