enseñadovsenseñarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: enseñado is a adjective, enseñar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“enseñado” is an adjective and “enseñar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,376
“enseñado” frequency rank
#3,551
“enseñar” frequency rank
11927
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enseñado enseñar
Definition Que tiene práctica, costumbre o hábito en una actividad o comportamiento. Ayudar o hacer a alguien aprender.

Where the eye mixes enseñado and enseñar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enseñado runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against enseñar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
enseñado
7 ch
enseñar

Look-alike desk: enseñado vs enseñar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enseñado is [ẽnseˈɲað̞o] while enseñar is [ẽnseˈɲaɾ]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enseñado is recorded at frequency rank #8,376, classified as anadj, pronounced [ẽnseˈɲað̞o]. enseñar is at rank #3,551, tagged as averb, pronounced [ẽnseˈɲaɾ].

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 11927, this pair ranks #293,352 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of enseñado vs enseñar

Shared letters: aensñ. Private to "enseñado": do. Private to "enseñar": r.

"enseñado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "enseñar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enseñado" for "enseñar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enseñado" is an adjective and "enseñar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "enseñado" vs "enseñar" - which ranks higher?
"enseñar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,551 in our Spanish list, against #8,376 for "enseñado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "enseñado" and "enseñar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enseñado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enseñar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,352 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enseñado" and "enseñar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ensayado vs enseñado". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #293,352 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