estancadovsestancadosWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#26,035
“estancado” frequency rank
#38,693
“estancados” frequency rank
64728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estancado estancados
Definition Participio de estancar. Forma del plural de estancado, participio de estancar.

Where the eye mixes estancado and estancados

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

9 ch
estancado
10 ch
estancados

Visual trap between estancado and estancados

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: estancado is [est̪ãŋˈkað̞o] while estancados is [est̪ãŋˈkað̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “estancado” sits inside “estancados”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estancado is recorded at frequency rank #26,035, classified as averb, pronounced [est̪ãŋˈkað̞o]. estancados is at rank #38,693, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [est̪ãŋˈkað̞os].

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 64728, this pair ranks #44,747 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of estancado vs estancados

Shared letters: acdenost. Private to "estancado": -. Private to "estancados": -.

"estancado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "estancados" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estancado ← esatncado · esstancado · estacnado · estanacdo · estancaddo · estancaod · estanccado · estancdao
  • estancados ← esatncados · esstancados · estacnados · estanacdos · estancaddos · estancadoss · estancadso · estancaods

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "estancado" for "estancados" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "estancado" is a verb and "estancados" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "estancado" vs "estancados" - which ranks higher?
"estancado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,035 in our Spanish list, against #38,693 for "estancados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "estancado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estancados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,747 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estancado" and "estancados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estampados vs estancados". 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 #44,747 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