infectadavsinfectadoTell them apart

Quick tell: infectada is a participle, infectado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“infectada” is a participle and “infectado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,649
“infectada” frequency rank
#21,025
“infectado” frequency rank
48674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature infectada infectado
Definition Forma del femenino de infectado, participio de infectar. Participio de infectar.

Where the eye mixes infectada and infectado

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

9 ch
infectada
9 ch
infectado

Visual trap between infectada and infectado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: infectada is [ĩɱfekˈt̪að̞a] while infectado is [ĩɱfekˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “infectada” becomes o in “infectado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

infectada is recorded at frequency rank #27,649, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [ĩɱfekˈt̪að̞a]. infectado is at rank #21,025, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩɱfekˈt̪að̞o].

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 48674, this pair ranks #113,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of infectada vs infectado

Shared letters: acdefint. Private to "infectada": -. Private to "infectado": o.

"infectada" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "infectado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • infectadaifnectada · inefctada · infcetada · infecatda · infecctada · infectaad · infectadda · infectdaa
  • infectadoifnectado · inefctado · infcetado · infecatdo · infecctado · infectaddo · infectaod · infectdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "infectada" and "infectado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "infectada" is a participle and "infectado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "infectada" or "infectado" show up more?
"infectado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,025 in our Spanish list, against #27,649 for "infectada". 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 "infectada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "infectado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "infectada" and "infectado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infecta vs infectada". 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 #113,133 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