invalidavsinválidosTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,440
“invalida” frequency rank
#43,076
“inválidos” frequency rank
84516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature invalida inválidos
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de invalidar. Forma del plural de inválido.

Where the eye mixes invalida and inválidos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. invalida runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against inválidos's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
invalida
9 ch
inválidos

Visual trap between invalida and inválidos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: invalida is [ĩmbaˈlið̞a] while inválidos is [ĩmˈbalið̞os]. 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 84516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

invalida is recorded at frequency rank #41,440, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmbaˈlið̞a]. inválidos is at rank #43,076, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ĩmˈbalið̞os].

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 84516, this pair ranks #6,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of invalida vs inválidos

Shared letters: dilnv. Private to "invalida": a. Private to "inválidos": osá.

"invalida" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "inválidos" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • invalida ← inavlida · inbalida · innvalida · invailda · invaldia · invaliad · invalidda · invallida

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "invalida" for "inválidos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "invalida" is a verb and "inválidos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "invalida" or "inválidos" show up more?
"invalida" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,440 in our Spanish list, against #43,076 for "inválidos". 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 "invalida" and "inválidos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "invalida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inválidos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,991 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "invalida" and "inválidos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "invada vs invalida". 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 #6,991 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