extrañabavsextrañadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,781
“extrañaba” frequency rank
#26,844
“extrañado” frequency rank
50625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature extrañaba extrañado
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de extrañar o de extrañarse. Participio de extrañar o de extrañarse.

Where the eye mixes extrañaba and extrañado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. extrañaba and extrañado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
extrañaba
9 ch
extrañado

Look-alike desk: extrañaba vs extrañado

A purely visual mix-up. extrañaba ([ekst̪ɾaˈɲaβ̞a]) and extrañado ([ekst̪ɾaˈɲað̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extrañaba is recorded at frequency rank #23,781, classified as averb, pronounced [ekst̪ɾaˈɲaβ̞a]. extrañado is at rank #26,844, tagged as averb, pronounced [ekst̪ɾaˈɲað̞o].

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 50625, this pair ranks #102,188 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of extrañaba vs extrañado

Shared letters: aertxñ. Private to "extrañaba": b. Private to "extrañado": do.

"extrañaba" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV  ·  "extrañado" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "extrañaba" and "extrañado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ekst̪ɾaˈɲaβ̞a] versus [ekst̪ɾaˈɲað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "extrañaba" or "extrañado" show up more?
"extrañaba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,781 in our Spanish list, against #26,844 for "extrañado". 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 "extrañaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extrañado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,188 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "extrañaba" and "extrañado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entrenaba vs extrañaba". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #102,188 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