reñidavsreñidoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#40,522
“reñida” frequency rank
#43,239
“reñido” frequency rank
83761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reñida reñido
Definition Forma del femenino de reñido, participio de reñir. Participio de reñir.

Where the eye mixes reñida and reñido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reñida and reñido follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
reñida
6 ch
reñido

Visual trap between reñida and reñido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reñida is [reˈɲið̞a] while reñido is [reˈɲið̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “reñida” becomes o in “reñido”, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reñida is recorded at frequency rank #40,522, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [reˈɲið̞a]. reñido is at rank #43,239, tagged as averb, pronounced [reˈɲið̞o].

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 83761, this pair ranks #7,765 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reñida vs reñido

Shared letters: deirñ. Private to "reñida": a. Private to "reñido": o.

"reñida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "reñido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reñida" for "reñido" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reñida" is a participle and "reñido" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reñida" vs "reñido" - which ranks higher?
"reñida" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,522 in our Spanish list, against #43,239 for "reñido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "reñida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reñido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,765 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reñida" and "reñido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rengo vs reñido". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,765 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