parecidavsparecidoConfusable pair

Quick tell: parecida is a participle, parecido is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“parecida” is a participle and “parecido” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,155
“parecida” frequency rank
#2,517
“parecido” frequency rank
10672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parecida parecido
Definition Forma del femenino de parecido. Con características en común, iguales o comparables a las de otro ser.

Where the eye mixes parecida and parecido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. parecida and parecido follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
parecida
8 ch
parecido

Why the eye confuses parecida with parecido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parecida is [paɾeˈsið̞a] while parecido is [paɾeˈsið̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “parecida” becomes o in “parecido”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parecida is recorded at frequency rank #8,155, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [paɾeˈsið̞a]. parecido is at rank #2,517, tagged as anadj, pronounced [paɾeˈsið̞o].

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 10672, this pair ranks #297,799 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parecida vs parecido

Shared letters: acdeipr. Private to "parecida": -. Private to "parecido": o.

"parecida" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "parecido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parecida ← aprecida · paercida · parceida · pareccida · parecdia · pareciad · parecidda · pareicda
  • parecido ← aprecido · paercido · parceido · pareccido · parecdio · pareciddo · pareciod · pareicdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parecida" and "parecido" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parecida" is a participle and "parecido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "parecida" or "parecido" show up more?
"parecido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,517 in our Spanish list, against #8,155 for "parecida". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "parecida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parecido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #297,799 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parecida" and "parecido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parecida vs preciada". 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 #297,799 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