trabadavstrabajarWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#47,460
“trabada” frequency rank
#518
“trabajar” frequency rank
47978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trabada trabajar
Definition Forma del femenino de trabado, participio de trabar. Realizar una actividad sea física o mental.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set trabada and trabajar apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
trabada
8 ch
trabajar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trabada is [t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞a] while trabajar is [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxaɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trabada is recorded at frequency rank #47,460, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞a]. trabajar is at rank #518, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxaɾ].

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 47978, this pair ranks #117,019 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trabada vs trabajar

Shared letters: abrt. Private to "trabada": d. Private to "trabajar": j.

"trabada" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "trabajar" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trabadartabada · tarbada · traabda · trabaad · trabadda · trabbada · trabdaa · travada
  • trabajarrtabajar · tarbajar · traabjar · trabaajr · trabajarr · trabajjar · trabajra · trabbajar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "trabada" and "trabajar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trabada" is a participle and "trabajar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "trabada" or "trabajar"?
"trabajar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #518 in our Spanish list, against #47,460 for "trabada". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list