trabadovstrabarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,791
“trabado” frequency rank
#46,247
“trabar” frequency rank
82038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trabado trabar
Definition Participio de trabar. Poner traba

Where the eye mixes trabado and trabar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. trabado runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against trabar's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
trabado
6 ch
trabar

Visual trap between trabado and trabar

A purely visual mix-up. trabado ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o]) and trabar ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞aɾ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82038, 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]. trabar is at rank #46,247, tagged as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaˈβ̞aɾ].

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 82038, this pair ranks #9,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of trabado vs trabar

Shared letters: abrt. Private to "trabado": do. Private to "trabar": -.

"trabado" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "trabar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trabado ← rtabado · tarbado · traabdo · trabaddo · trabaod · trabbado · trabdao · travado
  • trabar ← rtabar · tarbar · traabr · trabarr · trabbar · trabra · travar · trbaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "trabado" for "trabar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t̪ɾaˈβ̞að̞o] versus [t̪ɾaˈβ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "trabado" or "trabar"?
"trabado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,791 in our Spanish list, against #46,247 for "trabar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "trabado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trabar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,668 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trabado" and "trabar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trabar vs traca". 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 #9,668 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