prestadavsprestadoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#19,846
“prestada” frequency rank
#6,343
“prestado” frequency rank
26189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prestada prestado
Definition Forma del femenino de prestado, participio de prestar o de prestarse. Participio de prestar o de prestarse.

Where the eye mixes prestada and prestado

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

8 ch
prestada
8 ch
prestado

Look-alike desk: prestada vs prestado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prestada is [pɾesˈt̪að̞a] while prestado is [pɾesˈt̪að̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “prestada” becomes o in “prestado”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prestada is recorded at frequency rank #19,846, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [pɾesˈt̪að̞a]. prestado is at rank #6,343, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɾesˈt̪að̞o].

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 26189, this pair ranks #232,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prestada vs prestado

Shared letters: adeprst. Private to "prestada": -. Private to "prestado": o.

"prestada" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV  ·  "prestado" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prestada ← perstada · pprestada · presatda · presstada · prestaad · prestadda · prestdaa · presttada
  • prestado ← perstado · pprestado · presatdo · presstado · prestaddo · prestaod · prestdao · presttado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prestada" for "prestado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prestada" is a participle and "prestado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prestada" or "prestado" show up more?
"prestado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,343 in our Spanish list, against #19,846 for "prestada". 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 "prestada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prestado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #232,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prestada" and "prestado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prestaban vs prestada". 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 #232,881 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