trabajavstrabajadaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,460
“trabaja” frequency rank
#35,792
“trabajada” frequency rank
37252
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trabaja trabajada
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de trabajar. Forma del femenino de trabajado, participio de trabajar.

Where the eye mixes trabaja and trabajada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. trabaja runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against trabajada's 9 (CCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
trabaja
9 ch
trabajada

Why the eye confuses trabaja with trabajada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trabaja is [t̪ɾaˈβ̞axa] while trabajada is [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxað̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “trabaja” sits inside “trabajada”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trabaja is recorded at frequency rank #1,460, classified as averb, pronounced [t̪ɾaˈβ̞axa]. trabajada is at rank #35,792, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [t̪ɾaβ̞aˈxað̞a].

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 37252, this pair ranks #176,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trabaja vs trabajada

Shared letters: abjrt. Private to "trabaja": -. Private to "trabajada": d.

"trabaja" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "trabajada" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trabaja ← rtabaja · tarbaja · traabja · trabaaj · trabajja · trabbaja · trabjaa · travaja
  • trabajada ← rtabajada · tarbajada · traabjada · trabaajda · trabajaad · trabajadda · trabajdaa · trabajjada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "trabaja" and "trabajada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "trabaja" is a verb and "trabajada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "trabaja" or "trabajada" show up more?
"trabaja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,460 in our Spanish list, against #35,792 for "trabajada". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "trabaja" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trabajada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,269 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trabaja" and "trabajada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trabada vs trabajada". 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 #176,269 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