señalavsseñaladaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,637
“señala” frequency rank
#23,598
“señalada” frequency rank
26235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature señala señalada
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de señalar. Forma del femenino de señalado, participio de señalar.

Where the eye mixes señala and señalada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. señala runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against señalada's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
señala
8 ch
señalada

Look-alike desk: señala vs señalada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: señala is [seˈɲala] while señalada is [seɲaˈlað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “señala” sits inside “señalada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

señala is recorded at frequency rank #2,637, classified as averb, pronounced [seˈɲala]. señalada is at rank #23,598, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [seɲaˈlað̞a].

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 26235, this pair ranks #232,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of señala vs señalada

Shared letters: aelsñ. Private to "señala": -. Private to "señalada": d.

"señala" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "señalada" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "señala" for "señalada" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "señala" is a verb and "señalada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "señala" vs "señalada" - which ranks higher?
"señala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,637 in our Spanish list, against #23,598 for "señalada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "señala" and "señalada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "señala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "señalada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #232,655 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "señala" and "señalada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "señalaban vs señalada". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #232,655 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