perturbavsperturbadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,800
“perturba” frequency rank
#31,488
“perturbado” frequency rank
64288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perturba perturbado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de perturbar. Participio de perturbar.

Where the eye mixes perturba and perturbado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. perturba runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against perturbado's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
perturba
10 ch
perturbado

Why the eye confuses perturba with perturbado

A purely visual mix-up. perturba ([peɾˈt̪uɾβ̞a]) and perturbado ([peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞að̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “perturba” sits inside “perturbado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perturba is recorded at frequency rank #32,800, classified as averb, pronounced [peɾˈt̪uɾβ̞a]. perturbado is at rank #31,488, tagged as averb, pronounced [peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞að̞o].

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 64288, this pair ranks #46,044 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perturba vs perturbado

Shared letters: abeprtu. Private to "perturba": -. Private to "perturbado": do.

"perturba" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "perturbado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perturba ← eprturba · perrturba · pertruba · pertturba · pertubra · perturab · perturbba · perturrba
  • perturbado ← eprturbado · perrturbado · pertrubado · pertturbado · pertubrado · perturabdo · perturbaddo · perturbaod

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perturba" for "perturbado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈt̪uɾβ̞a] versus [peɾt̪uɾˈβ̞að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perturba" vs "perturbado" - which ranks higher?
"perturbado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,488 in our Spanish list, against #32,800 for "perturba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "perturba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perturbado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,044 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perturba" and "perturbado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perturba vs perturbada". 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 #46,044 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