guardarvsguardenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,927
“guardar” frequency rank
#20,061
“guarden” frequency rank
23988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guardar guarden
Definition Colocar algo en sitio seguro y apropiado para ello Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de guardar o de guardarse.

Where the eye mixes guardar and guarden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. guardar and guarden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
guardar
7 ch
guarden

Visual trap between guardar and guarden

A purely visual mix-up. guardar ([gwaɾˈð̞aɾ]) and guarden ([ˈgwaɾð̞ẽn]) 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 23988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guardar is recorded at frequency rank #3,927, classified as averb, pronounced [gwaɾˈð̞aɾ]. guarden is at rank #20,061, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈgwaɾð̞ẽn].

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 23988, this pair ranks #243,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of guardar vs guarden

Shared letters: adgru. Private to "guardar": -. Private to "guarden": en.

"guardar" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "guarden" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • guardar ← gaurdar · gguardar · guadrar · guaradr · guardarr · guarddar · guardra · guarrdar
  • guarden ← gaurden · gguarden · guadren · guardden · guardenn · guardne · guaredn · guarrden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guardar" and "guarden" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([gwaɾˈð̞aɾ] versus [ˈgwaɾð̞ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "guardar" or "guarden"?
"guardar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,927 in our Spanish list, against #20,061 for "guarden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "guardar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guarden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,253 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "guardar" and "guarden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gardens vs guarden". 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 #243,253 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