rábanovsrayadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rábano is a noun, rayado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rábano” is a noun and “rayado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,197
“rábano” frequency rank
#25,017
“rayado” frequency rank
71214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rábano rayado
Definition (Raphanus sativus) Planta comestible de tallo velludo, hojas grandes y ásperas, flores blancas, amarillas o púrpuras en racimos terminales y raíz carnosa, redondeada o con forma de huso, de color blanco, rojo, amarillento o negro y de sabor picante. Cubierto de líneas o rayas.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rábano and rayado apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
rábano
6 ch
rayado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rábano is [ˈraβ̞ano] while rayado is [raˈʝað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rábano is recorded at frequency rank #46,197, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈraβ̞ano]. rayado is at rank #25,017, tagged as anadj, pronounced [raˈʝað̞o].

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 71214, this pair ranks #27,987 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rábano vs rayado

Shared letters: aor. Private to "rábano": bná. Private to "rayado": dy.

"rábano" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "rayado" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rayadoaryado · raaydo · rayaddo · rayaod · raydao · rayyado · rrayado · ryaado

Frequency comparison

rábano#46,197
rayado#25,017

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rábano" and "rayado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rábano" is a noun and "rayado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rábano" or "rayado"?
"rayado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,017 in our Spanish list, against #46,197 for "rábano". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rábano vs rayado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rábano”; for an adjective, it's “rayado”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rábano” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list