abarcandovsalargandoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,172
“abarcando” frequency rank
#48,788
“alargando” frequency rank
79960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abarcando alargando
Definition Gerundio de abarcar. Gerundio de alargar.

Where the eye mixes abarcando and alargando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
abarcando
9 ch
alargando

Visual trap between abarcando and alargando

A purely visual mix-up. abarcando ([aβ̞aɾˈkãn̪d̪o]) and alargando ([alaɾˈɣ̞ãn̪d̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abarcando is recorded at frequency rank #31,172, classified as averb, pronounced [aβ̞aɾˈkãn̪d̪o]. alargando is at rank #48,788, tagged as averb, pronounced [alaɾˈɣ̞ãn̪d̪o].

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 79960, this pair ranks #12,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abarcando vs alargando

Shared letters: adnor. Private to "abarcando": bc. Private to "alargando": gl.

"abarcando" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "alargando" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abarcandoaabrcando · abacrando · abaracndo · abarcadno · abarcanddo · abarcanndo · abarcanod · abarccando
  • alargandoaalrgando · alagrando · alaragndo · alargadno · alarganddo · alarganndo · alarganod · alarggando

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abarcando" for "alargando" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aβ̞aɾˈkãn̪d̪o] versus [alaɾˈɣ̞ãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "abarcando" or "alargando" show up more?
"abarcando" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,172 in our Spanish list, against #48,788 for "alargando". 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 "abarcando" and "alargando" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abarcando" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alargando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,293 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abarcando" and "alargando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alargando vs apartando". 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 #12,293 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