llegavsllegadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: llega is a noun, llegado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“llega” is a noun and “llegado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#772
“llega” frequency rank
#1,091
“llegado” frequency rank
1863
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature llega llegado
Definition Acción y efecto de recoger, allegar o juntar. Cercano.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set llega and llegado apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
llega
7 ch
llegado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

llega and llegado form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “llega” sits inside “llegado” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1863, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

llega is recorded at frequency rank #772, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʝeɣ̞a]. llegado is at rank #1,091, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʝeˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 1863, this pair ranks #321,357 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

llega#772
llegado#1,091

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "llega" and "llegado" be used interchangeably?
No, "llega" and "llegado" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering llega vs llegado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “llega”; for an adjective, it's “llegado”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “llega” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list