Which to use
“malvada” is a participle and “malvado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,419
- “malvada” frequency rank
- #13,284
- “malvado” frequency rank
- 33703
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malvada | malvado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del femenino de malvado, participio de malvar. | Que tiene maldad, que hace el mal. |
Where the eye mixes malvada and malvado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. malvada and malvado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: malvada vs malvado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: malvada is [malˈβ̞að̞a] while malvado is [malˈβ̞að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “malvada” becomes o in “malvado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malvada is recorded at frequency rank #20,419, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [malˈβ̞að̞a]. malvado is at rank #13,284, tagged as anadj, pronounced [malˈβ̞að̞o].
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 33703, this pair ranks #195,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of malvada vs malvado
Shared letters: adlmv. Private to "malvada": -. Private to "malvado": o.
"malvada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "malvado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "malvada" for "malvado" ever safe?
Frequency check: "malvada" vs "malvado" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "malvada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malvado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malvada" and "malvado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malva vs malvada". 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 #195,345 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.