voladovsvolcadoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: volado is a adjective, volcado is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“volado” is an adjective and “volcado” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,696
“volado” frequency rank
#28,996
“volcado” frequency rank
53692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature volado volcado
Definition Se dice de la persona que no está en plena posesión de sus facultades por encontrarse bajo los efectos de una droga. Habitualmente se refiere a alucinógenos como la marihuana. Participio de volcar.

Where the eye mixes volado and volcado

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

6 ch
volado
7 ch
volcado

Why the eye confuses volado with volcado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: volado is [boˈlað̞o] while volcado is [bolˈkað̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

volado is recorded at frequency rank #24,696, classified as anadj, pronounced [boˈlað̞o]. volcado is at rank #28,996, tagged as averb, pronounced [bolˈkað̞o].

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 53692, this pair ranks #86,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of volado vs volcado

Shared letters: adlov. Private to "volado": -. Private to "volcado": c.

"volado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "volcado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • volado ← bolado · ovlado · vloado · voaldo · voladdo · volaod · voldao · vollado
  • volcado ← bolcado · ovlcado · vlocado · voclado · volacdo · volcaddo · volcaod · volccado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "volado" for "volcado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "volado" is an adjective and "volcado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "volado" or "volcado"?
"volado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,696 in our Spanish list, against #28,996 for "volcado". 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 "volado" and "volcado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "volado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "volcado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,698 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "volado" and "volcado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velado vs volcado". 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 #86,698 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