funcionavsfuncionadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,291
“funciona” frequency rank
#11,783
“funcionado” frequency rank
13074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature funciona funcionado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de funcionar. Participio de funcionar.

Where the eye mixes funciona and funcionado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
funciona
10 ch
funcionado

Visual trap between funciona and funcionado

A purely visual mix-up. funciona ([fũnˈsjona]) and funcionado ([fũnsjoˈnað̞o]) 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) - “funciona” sits inside “funcionado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

funciona is recorded at frequency rank #1,291, classified as averb, pronounced [fũnˈsjona]. funcionado is at rank #11,783, tagged as averb, pronounced [fũnsjoˈnað̞o].

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 13074, this pair ranks #289,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of funciona vs funcionado

Shared letters: acfinou. Private to "funciona": -. Private to "funcionado": d.

"funciona" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "funcionado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • funcionaffunciona · fnuciona · fucniona · funcciona · funcinoa · funcioan · funcionna · funcoina
  • funcionadoffuncionado · fnucionado · fucnionado · funccionado · funcinoado · funcioando · funcionaddo · funcionaod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "funciona" for "funcionado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fũnˈsjona] versus [fũnsjoˈnað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "funciona" vs "funcionado" - which ranks higher?
"funciona" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,291 in our Spanish list, against #11,783 for "funcionado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "funciona" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "funcionado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,254 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "funciona" and "funcionado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "funciona vs fusiona". 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 #289,254 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