heridovshervidaConfusable pair

Quick tell: herido is a adjective, hervida is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“herido” is an adjective and “hervida” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,014
“herido” frequency rank
#43,052
“hervida” frequency rank
47066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature herido hervida
Definition Que ha sufrido un daño físico como una herida, desgarro, contusión u otra lesión. Forma del femenino de hervido, participio de hervir.

Where the eye mixes herido and hervida

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. herido runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against hervida's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
herido
7 ch
hervida

Why the eye confuses herido with hervida

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: herido is [eˈɾið̞o] while hervida is [eɾˈβ̞ið̞a]. 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 (adjective vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

herido is recorded at frequency rank #4,014, classified as anadj, pronounced [eˈɾið̞o]. hervida is at rank #43,052, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [eɾˈβ̞ið̞a].

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 47066, this pair ranks #122,137 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of herido vs hervida

Shared letters: dehir. Private to "herido": o. Private to "hervida": av.

"herido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "hervida" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • herido ← ehrido · heirdo · herdio · heriddo · heriod · herrido · hherido · hreido
  • hervida ← ehrvida · herbida · herivda · herrvida · hervdia · herviad · hervidda · hervvida

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "herido" and "hervida" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "herido" is an adjective and "hervida" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "herido" vs "hervida" - which ranks higher?
"herido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,014 in our Spanish list, against #43,052 for "hervida". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "herido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hervida" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,137 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "herido" and "hervida" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hervida vs hervido". 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 #122,137 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