investigarvsinvestiguéTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,425
“investigar” frequency rank
#49,741
“investigué” frequency rank
53166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature investigar investigué
Definition Hacer las diligencias, operaciones o actividades para esclarecer o descubrir alguna cosa. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de investigar.

Where the eye mixes investigar and investigué

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. investigar (VCCVCCVCVC) and investigué (VCCVCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
investigar
10 ch
investigué

Look-alike desk: investigar vs investigué

A purely visual mix-up. investigar ([ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞aɾ]) and investigué ([ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞e]) 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 53166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

investigar is recorded at frequency rank #3,425, classified as averb, pronounced [ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞aɾ]. investigué is at rank #49,741, tagged as averb, pronounced [ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞e].

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 53166, this pair ranks #89,199 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of investigar vs investigué

Shared letters: eginstv. Private to "investigar": ar. Private to "investigué": ué.

"investigar" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC  ·  "investigué" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • investigar ← inbestigar · inevstigar · innvestigar · invesitgar · invesstigar · investgiar · investiagr · investigarr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "investigar" for "investigué" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [ĩmbest̪iˈɣ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "investigar" vs "investigué" - which ranks higher?
"investigar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,425 in our Spanish list, against #49,741 for "investigué". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "investigar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "investigué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,199 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "investigar" and "investigué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "investigué vs investiguen". 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 #89,199 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