pegadovsplagadoTell them apart

Which to use

“pegado” and “plagado” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,160
“pegado” frequency rank
#23,179
“plagado” frequency rank
31339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pegado plagado
Definition Participio de pegar. Participio de plagar.

Where the eye mixes pegado and plagado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pegado runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against plagado's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pegado
7 ch
plagado

Why the eye confuses pegado with plagado

A purely visual mix-up. pegado ([peˈɣ̞að̞o]) and plagado ([plaˈɣ̞að̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pegado is recorded at frequency rank #8,160, classified as averb, pronounced [peˈɣ̞að̞o]. plagado is at rank #23,179, tagged as averb, pronounced [plaˈɣ̞að̞o].

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 31339, this pair ranks #207,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pegado vs plagado

Shared letters: adgop. Private to "pegado": e. Private to "plagado": l.

"pegado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "plagado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pegado ← epgado · peagdo · pegaddo · pegaod · pegdao · peggado · pgeado · ppegado
  • plagado ← lpagado · palgado · plaagdo · plagaddo · plagaod · plagdao · plaggado · plgaado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pegado" and "plagado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([peˈɣ̞að̞o] versus [plaˈɣ̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pegado" or "plagado"?
"pegado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,160 in our Spanish list, against #23,179 for "plagado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pegado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plagado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,544 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pegado" and "plagado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plagado vs plegado". 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 #207,544 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