Which to use
“malvado” is an adjective and “marcado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,284
- “malvado” frequency rank
- #4,723
- “marcado” frequency rank
- 18007
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malvado | marcado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que tiene maldad, que hace el mal. | Participio de marcar. |
Where the eye mixes malvado and marcado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: malvado vs marcado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: malvado is [malˈβ̞að̞o] while marcado is [maɾˈkað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malvado is recorded at frequency rank #13,284, classified as anadj, pronounced [malˈβ̞að̞o]. marcado is at rank #4,723, tagged as averb, pronounced [maɾˈkað̞o].
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 18007, this pair ranks #269,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of malvado vs marcado
Shared letters: admo. Private to "malvado": lv. Private to "marcado": cr.
"malvado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "marcado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "malvado" and "marcado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "malvado" or "marcado" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "malvado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marcado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malvado" and "marcado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malva vs malvado". 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 #269,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.