trabadovstrabajadoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,791
“trabado” frequency rank
#3,369
“trabajado” frequency rank
39160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trabado trabajado
Definition Participio de trabar. Participio de trabajar.

Where the eye mixes trabado and trabajado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
trabado
9 ch
trabajado

Look-alike desk: trabado vs trabajado

A purely visual mix-up. trabado ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o]) and trabajado ([t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxað̞o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trabado is recorded at frequency rank #35,791, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o]. trabajado is at rank #3,369, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxað̞o].

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 39160, this pair ranks #166,079 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trabado vs trabajado

Shared letters: abdort. Private to "trabado": -. Private to "trabajado": j.

"trabado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "trabajado" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trabadortabado · tarbado · traabdo · trabaddo · trabaod · trabbado · trabdao · travado
  • trabajadortabajado · tarbajado · traabjado · trabaajdo · trabajaddo · trabajaod · trabajdao · trabajjado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "trabado" for "trabajado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o] versus [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "trabado" vs "trabajado" - which ranks higher?
"trabajado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,369 in our Spanish list, against #35,791 for "trabado". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "trabado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trabajado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,079 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trabado" and "trabajado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trabada vs trabado". 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 #166,079 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