señalavsseñaladoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,637
“señala” frequency rank
#5,890
“señalado” frequency rank
8527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes señala and señalado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
señala
8 ch
señalado

Visual trap between señala and señalado

A purely visual mix-up. señala ([seˈɲala]) and señalado ([seɲaˈlað̞o]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “señala” sits inside “señalado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8527, 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]. señalado is at rank #5,890, tagged as averb, pronounced [seɲaˈlað̞o].

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 8527, this pair ranks #304,730 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of señala vs señalado

Shared letters: aelsñ. Private to "señala": -. Private to "señalado": do.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "señala" and "señalado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([seˈɲala] versus [seɲaˈlað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "señala" or "señalado"?
"señala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,637 in our Spanish list, against #5,890 for "señalado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "señala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "señalado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,730 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "señala" and "señalado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "señalado vs señalamos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #304,730 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