estaban
[esˈt̪aβ̞ãn]
The verdict
“estaban” is in the everyday core of Spanish, ranked #482 in Spanish word frequency and used as a verb.
- #482
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de estar.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | estaban |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [esˈt̪aβ̞ãn] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #482 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “estaban” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for estaban is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [esˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. Corpus data places it at rank #482 in overall Spanish word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de estar.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for estaban, with forms such as "esatban", "esstaban", and "estaabn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "están", "estará", "estafa", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Spanish form is estaban, spelled E-S-T-A-B-A-N.
Definition
- 1Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de estar.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esatban,esstaban,estaabn,estabann,estabban,estabna,estavan,estbaan,esttaban,etsaban,setaban
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of estaban - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "estaban"?
What does "estaban" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "estaban"?
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What language does "estaban" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “estaban”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is E-S-T-A-B-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [esˈt̪aβ̞ãn] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “están” - see the side-by-side comparison. estaban vs están
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.