igualadovsigualarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: igualado is a adjective, igualar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“igualado” is an adjective and “igualar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,091
“igualado” frequency rank
#16,357
“igualar” frequency rank
52448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature igualado igualar
Definition Se dice de un ave que ya ha arrojado el plumón y tiene igual la pluma. Poner un ser al mismo nivel o en igualdad con otro. Hacerlos iguales en categoría, condición, apariencia o características.

Where the eye mixes igualado and igualar

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

8 ch
igualado
7 ch
igualar

Visual trap between igualado and igualar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: igualado is [iɣ̞waˈlað̞o] while igualar is [iɣ̞waˈlaɾ]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

igualado is recorded at frequency rank #36,091, classified as anadj, pronounced [iɣ̞waˈlað̞o]. igualar is at rank #16,357, tagged as averb, pronounced [iɣ̞waˈlaɾ].

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 52448, this pair ranks #92,642 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of igualado vs igualar

Shared letters: agilu. Private to "igualado": do. Private to "igualar": r.

"igualado" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCV  ·  "igualar" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • igualadogiualado · igaulado · iggualado · iguaaldo · igualaddo · igualaod · igualdao · iguallado
  • igualargiualar · igaular · iggualar · iguaalr · igualarr · iguallar · igualra · igulaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "igualado" and "igualar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "igualado" is an adjective and "igualar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "igualado" or "igualar" show up more?
"igualar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,357 in our Spanish list, against #36,091 for "igualado". 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 "igualado" and "igualar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "igualado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "igualar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,642 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "igualado" and "igualar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Igualada vs igualado". 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 #92,642 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