pegadosvspenadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pegados is a participle, penado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pegados” is a participle and “penado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,638
“pegados” frequency rank
#29,782
“penado” frequency rank
48420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pegados penado
Definition Forma del plural de pegado, participio de pegar. Participio de penar o de penarse.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
pegados
6 ch
penado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pegados is [peˈɣ̞að̞os] while penado is [peˈnað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pegados is recorded at frequency rank #18,638, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [peˈɣ̞að̞os]. penado is at rank #29,782, tagged as averb, pronounced [peˈnað̞o].

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 48420, this pair ranks #114,588 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pegados vs penado

Shared letters: adeop. Private to "pegados": gs. Private to "penado": n.

"pegados" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "penado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pegadosepgados · peagdos · pegaddos · pegadoss · pegadso · pegaods · pegdaos · peggados
  • penadoepnado · peando · penaddo · penaod · pendao · pennado · pneado · ppenado

Frequency comparison

pegados#18,638
penado#29,782

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pegados" and "penado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pegados" is a participle and "penado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pegados" or "penado"?
"pegados" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,638 in our Spanish list, against #29,782 for "penado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pegados vs penado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a participle, it's “pegados”; for a verb, it's “penado”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pegados” 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