quirúrgicasvsquirúrgicoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,516
“quirúrgicas” frequency rank
#22,834
“quirúrgico” frequency rank
54350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quirúrgicas quirúrgico
Definition Forma del femenino plural de quirúrgico. Propio o relacionado con la cirugía.

Where the eye mixes quirúrgicas and quirúrgico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. quirúrgicas runs 11 letters (CVVCVCCVCVC) against quirúrgico's 10 (CVVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
quirúrgicas
10 ch
quirúrgico

Visual trap between quirúrgicas and quirúrgico

A purely visual mix-up. quirúrgicas ([kiˈɾuɾxikas]) and quirúrgico ([kiˈɾuɾxiko]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quirúrgicas is recorded at frequency rank #31,516, classified as anadj, pronounced [kiˈɾuɾxikas]. quirúrgico is at rank #22,834, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kiˈɾuɾxiko].

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 54350, this pair ranks #83,735 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quirúrgicas vs quirúrgico

Shared letters: cgiqruú. Private to "quirúrgicas": as. Private to "quirúrgico": o.

"quirúrgicas" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCVC  ·  "quirúrgico" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quirúrgicas" for "quirúrgico" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kiˈɾuɾxikas] versus [kiˈɾuɾxiko]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "quirúrgicas" or "quirúrgico" show up more?
"quirúrgico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,834 in our Spanish list, against #31,516 for "quirúrgicas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quirúrgicas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quirúrgico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,735 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quirúrgicas" and "quirúrgico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quirúrgicas vs quirúrgicos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #83,735 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