abrieranvsaprietanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,097
“abrieran” frequency rank
#43,980
“aprietan” frequency rank
89077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abrieran aprietan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo de abrir o de abrirse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apretar.

Where the eye mixes abrieran and aprietan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
abrieran
8 ch
aprietan

Why the eye confuses abrieran with aprietan

A purely visual mix-up. abrieran ([aˈβ̞ɾjeɾãn]) and aprietan ([aˈpɾjet̪ãn]) 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 89077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abrieran is recorded at frequency rank #45,097, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈβ̞ɾjeɾãn]. aprietan is at rank #43,980, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpɾjet̪ãn].

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 89077, this pair ranks #3,365 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abrieran vs aprietan

Shared letters: aeinr. Private to "abrieran": b. Private to "aprietan": pt.

"abrieran" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "aprietan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abrieranabbrieran · abireran · abreiran · abriearn · abrierann · abrierna · abrierran · abrirean
  • aprietanapiretan · apprietan · apreitan · aprieatn · aprietann · aprietna · apriettan · apritean

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abrieran" and "aprietan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈβ̞ɾjeɾãn] versus [aˈpɾjet̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abrieran" vs "aprietan" - which ranks higher?
"aprietan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,980 in our Spanish list, against #45,097 for "abrieran". 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 "abrieran" and "aprietan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abrieran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aprietan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,365 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abrieran" and "aprietan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aprietan vs aprietos". 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 #3,365 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