Which to use
“prestados” is a participle and “préstamo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,184
- “prestados” frequency rank
- #4,934
- “préstamo” frequency rank
- 21118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prestados | préstamo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de prestado, participio de prestar o de prestarse. | Acción o efecto de prestar. |
Where the eye mixes prestados and préstamo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prestados runs 9 letters (CCVCCVCVC) against préstamo's 8 (CCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: prestados vs préstamo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prestados is [pɾesˈt̪að̞os] while préstamo is [ˈpɾest̪amo]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prestados is recorded at frequency rank #16,184, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [pɾesˈt̪að̞os]. préstamo is at rank #4,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɾest̪amo].
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 21118, this pair ranks #256,335 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prestados vs préstamo
Shared letters: aoprst. Private to "prestados": de. Private to "préstamo": mé.
"prestados" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC · "préstamo" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- prestados ← perstados · pprestados · presatdos · presstados · prestaddos · prestadoss · prestadso · prestaods
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prestados" for "préstamo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "prestados" or "préstamo" show up more?
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 "prestados" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "préstamo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #256,335 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prestados" and "préstamo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prelados vs prestados". 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 #256,335 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.