reformavsreformadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: reforma is a noun, reformado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reforma” is a noun and “reformado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,152
“reforma” frequency rank
#18,960
“reformado” frequency rank
20112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reforma reformado
Definition Acción o efecto de reformar o de reformarse Participio de reformar.

Where the eye mixes reforma and reformado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reforma runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against reformado's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
reforma
9 ch
reformado

Look-alike desk: reforma vs reformado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reforma is [reˈfoɾma] while reformado is [refoɾˈmað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “reforma” sits inside “reformado”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reforma is recorded at frequency rank #1,152, classified as anoun, pronounced [reˈfoɾma]. reformado is at rank #18,960, tagged as averb, pronounced [refoɾˈmað̞o].

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 20112, this pair ranks #260,749 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reforma vs reformado

Shared letters: aefmor. Private to "reforma": -. Private to "reformado": d.

"reforma" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "reformado" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reforma ← erforma · refforma · refomra · reforam · reformma · reforrma · refroma · reofrma
  • reformado ← erformado · refformado · refomrado · reforamdo · reformaddo · reformaod · reformdao · reformmado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reforma" and "reformado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reforma" is a noun and "reformado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "reforma" or "reformado" show up more?
"reforma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,152 in our Spanish list, against #18,960 for "reformado". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reforma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reformado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,749 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reforma" and "reformado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reformado vs retomado". 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 #260,749 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