guardabavsguardasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: guardaba is a verb, guardas is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“guardaba” is a verb and “guardas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,122
“guardaba” frequency rank
#14,604
“guardas” frequency rank
33726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guardaba guardas
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de guardar o de guardarse. Forma del plural de guarda.

Where the eye mixes guardaba and guardas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
guardaba
7 ch
guardas

Visual trap between guardaba and guardas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guardaba is [gwaɾˈð̞aβ̞a] while guardas is [ˈgwaɾð̞as]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guardaba is recorded at frequency rank #19,122, classified as averb, pronounced [gwaɾˈð̞aβ̞a]. guardas is at rank #14,604, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈgwaɾð̞as].

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 33726, this pair ranks #195,202 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of guardaba vs guardas

Shared letters: adgru. Private to "guardaba": b. Private to "guardas": s.

"guardaba" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV  ·  "guardas" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • guardabagaurdaba · gguardaba · guadraba · guaradba · guardaab · guardabba · guardava · guardbaa
  • guardasgaurdas · gguardas · guadras · guarads · guardass · guarddas · guardsa · guarrdas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guardaba" and "guardas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "guardaba" is a verb and "guardas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "guardaba" vs "guardas" - which ranks higher?
"guardas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,604 in our Spanish list, against #19,122 for "guardaba". 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 "guardaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guardas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,202 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "guardaba" and "guardas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guardaba vs guardará". 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 #195,202 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