licenciavslicenciadaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: licencia is a noun, licenciada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“licencia” is a noun and “licenciada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,216
“licencia” frequency rank
#19,476
“licenciada” frequency rank
21692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature licencia licenciada
Definition Baja temporal, la baja que se otorga a un trabajador por un período de tiempo en casos de enfermedad, accidente, etc. Forma del femenino de licenciado, participio de licenciar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set licencia and licenciada apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
licencia
10 ch
licenciada

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: licencia is [liˈsẽnsja] while licenciada is [lisẽnˈsjað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “licencia” sits inside “licenciada”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

licencia is recorded at frequency rank #2,216, classified as anoun, pronounced [liˈsẽnsja]. licenciada is at rank #19,476, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [lisẽnˈsjað̞a].

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 21692, this pair ranks #253,756 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of licencia vs licenciada

Shared letters: aceiln. Private to "licencia": -. Private to "licenciada": d.

"licencia" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "licenciada" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • licenciailcencia · lciencia · liccencia · licecnia · licencai · licenccia · licenica · licenncia
  • licenciadailcenciada · lcienciada · liccenciada · licecniada · licencaida · licencciada · licenciaad · licenciadda

Frequency comparison

licencia#2,216
licenciada#19,476

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "licencia" and "licenciada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "licencia" is a noun and "licenciada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "licencia" or "licenciada"?
"licencia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,216 in our Spanish list, against #19,476 for "licenciada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering licencia vs licenciada

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “licencia”; for a participle, it's “licenciada”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “licencia” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list