vigilavsvigiladoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,597
“vigila” frequency rank
#29,440
“vigilado” frequency rank
49037
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vigila vigilado
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de vigilar. Participio de vigilar.

Where the eye mixes vigila and vigilado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vigila runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against vigilado's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
vigila
8 ch
vigilado

Visual trap between vigila and vigilado

A purely visual mix-up. vigila ([biˈxila]) and vigilado ([bixiˈlað̞o]) 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 extra letter(s) - “vigila” sits inside “vigilado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vigila is recorded at frequency rank #19,597, classified as averb, pronounced [biˈxila]. vigilado is at rank #29,440, tagged as averb, pronounced [bixiˈlað̞o].

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 49037, this pair ranks #111,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vigila vs vigilado

Shared letters: agilv. Private to "vigila": -. Private to "vigilado": do.

"vigila" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "vigilado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vigila ← bigila · ivgila · vgiila · viggila · vigial · vigilla · viglia · viigla
  • vigilado ← bigilado · ivgilado · vgiilado · viggilado · vigialdo · vigiladdo · vigilaod · vigildao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vigila" and "vigilado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([biˈxila] versus [bixiˈlað̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vigila" or "vigilado"?
"vigila" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,597 in our Spanish list, against #29,440 for "vigilado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vigila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vigilado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,085 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vigila" and "vigilado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigilaba vs vigilado". 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 #111,085 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