engañadosvsengañosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: engañados is a participle, engaños is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“engañados” is a participle and “engaños” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,976
“engañados” frequency rank
#17,126
“engaños” frequency rank
38102
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature engañados engaños
Definition Forma del plural de engañado, participio de engañar. Forma del plural de engaño.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set engañados and engaños apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
engañados
7 ch
engaños

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: engañados is [ẽŋgaˈɲað̞os] while engaños is [ẽŋˈgaɲos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

engañados is recorded at frequency rank #20,976, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [ẽŋgaˈɲað̞os]. engaños is at rank #17,126, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ẽŋˈgaɲos].

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 38102, this pair ranks #171,803 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of engañados vs engaños

Shared letters: aegnosñ. Private to "engañados": d. Private to "engaños": -.

"engañados" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "engaños" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequency comparison

engañados#20,976
engaños#17,126

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "engañados" and "engaños" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "engañados" is a participle and "engaños" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "engañados" or "engaños"?
"engaños" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,126 in our Spanish list, against #20,976 for "engañados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering engañados vs engaños

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a participle, it's “engañados”; for a noun, it's “engaños”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “engañados” 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