trabadovstrabajéTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,791
“trabado” frequency rank
#12,497
“trabajé” frequency rank
48288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trabado trabajé
Definition Participio de trabar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de trabajar.

Where the eye mixes trabado and trabajé

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

7 ch
trabado
7 ch
trabajé

Visual trap between trabado and trabajé

A purely visual mix-up. trabado ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o]) and trabajé ([t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxe]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48288, 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]. trabajé is at rank #12,497, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxe].

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 48288, this pair ranks #115,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trabado vs trabajé

Shared letters: abrt. Private to "trabado": do. Private to "trabajé": jé.

"trabado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "trabajé" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trabado ← rtabado · tarbado · traabdo · trabaddo · trabaod · trabbado · trabdao · travado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "trabado" and "trabajé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o] versus [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "trabado" or "trabajé" show up more?
"trabajé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,497 in our Spanish list, against #35,791 for "trabado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "trabajé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trabado" and "trabajé" 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 #115,305 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