prestadavsprestasTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#19,846
“prestada” frequency rank
#26,969
“prestas” frequency rank
46815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prestada prestas
Definition Forma del femenino de prestado, participio de prestar o de prestarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de prestar o de prestarse.

Where the eye mixes prestada and prestas

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

8 ch
prestada
7 ch
prestas

Look-alike desk: prestada vs prestas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prestada is [pɾesˈt̪að̞a] while prestas is [ˈpɾest̪as]. 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 46815, 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]. prestas is at rank #26,969, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpɾest̪as].

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 46815, this pair ranks #123,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prestada vs prestas

Shared letters: aeprst. Private to "prestada": d. Private to "prestas": -.

"prestada" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV  ·  "prestas" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prestada ← perstada · pprestada · presatda · presstada · prestaad · prestadda · prestdaa · presttada
  • prestas ← perstas · pprestas · presats · presstas · prestass · prestsa · presttas · pretsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prestada" for "prestas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prestada" is a participle and "prestas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prestada" or "prestas" show up more?
"prestada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,846 in our Spanish list, against #26,969 for "prestas". 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 "prestada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prestas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prestada" and "prestas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "presea vs prestas". 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 #123,566 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