alternaban

[al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn]

/[al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn]/ verb

The verdict

“alternaban” is uncommon Spanish (frequency #89,526 among 7,704 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,526
frequency rank, Spanish
7,704
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alternar.

Corpus desk

Index ES-alternaban · alternaban · Spanish

alternaban · rank #89,526 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,526
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 7,704
  • PHOTO-FINISH alternaba

Nearest frequency peer: alternaba (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangos de cola larga cerca de “alternaban”

Banda escasa: las barras invierten el rango para que lo raro se lea más corto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista de cola larga: dónde “alternaban” se sitúa frente a rangos españoles igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for alternaban
PropertyValue
Headwordalternaban
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechVerb
IPA[al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn]
Letters10
Frequency rank#89,526
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “alternaban” en español

Esta escala corre desde el núcleo del español cotidiano (izquierda) hasta el rastro de formas rara vez usadas (derecha).alternabancae en esta cola de rareza:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. Vecinos raros de la misma franja: “alternaba” (#89,525), “alpargata” (#89,524), “alumbrados” (#89,528). Entre 7,704 lemas con “A”, “alternaban” va en #89,526. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

alternaban is uncommon Spanish at frequency #89,526 among 7,704 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alternar.".

alternaban doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is alternaban, spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-B-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alternar.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "alternaban"?
"alternaban" is spelled A-L-T-E-R-N-A-B-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is [al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn].
What does "alternaban" mean?
As a verb, "alternaban" means: Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de alternar.
How do you pronounce "alternaban"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alternaban" is [al̪t̪eɾˈnaβ̞ãn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "alternaban" come from?
"alternaban" is a Spanish word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "alternaban", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list