plagadovsplateadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: plagado is a verb, plateado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“plagado” is a verb and “plateado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,179
“plagado” frequency rank
#19,841
“plateado” frequency rank
43020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plagado plateado
Definition Participio de plagar. Que semeja a la plata en su color o apariencia.

Where the eye mixes plagado and plateado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. plagado runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against plateado's 8 (CCVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
plagado
8 ch
plateado

Visual trap between plagado and plateado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plagado is [plaˈɣ̞að̞o] while plateado is [plat̪eˈað̞o]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plagado is recorded at frequency rank #23,179, classified as averb, pronounced [plaˈɣ̞að̞o]. plateado is at rank #19,841, tagged as anadj, pronounced [plat̪eˈað̞o].

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 43020, this pair ranks #144,982 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of plagado vs plateado

Shared letters: adlop. Private to "plagado": g. Private to "plateado": et.

"plagado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "plateado" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plagado ← lpagado · palgado · plaagdo · plagaddo · plagaod · plagdao · plaggado · plgaado
  • plateado ← lpateado · palteado · plaetado · plataedo · plateaddo · plateaod · platedao · platteado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "plagado" for "plateado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "plagado" is a verb and "plateado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "plagado" or "plateado"?
"plateado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,841 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

Eye-level mix-up between "plagado" and "plateado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plagado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plateado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #144,982 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plagado" and "plateado" 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 #144,982 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