Which to use
“acaban” and “acabando” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,892
- “acaban” frequency rank
- #10,958
- “acabando” frequency rank
- 14850
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acaban | acabando |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acabar. | Gerundio de acabar. |
Where the eye mixes acaban and acabando
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between acaban and acabando
A purely visual mix-up. acaban ([aˈkaβ̞ãn]) and acabando ([akaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “acaban” sits inside “acabando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acaban is recorded at frequency rank #3,892, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈkaβ̞ãn]. acabando is at rank #10,958, tagged as averb, pronounced [akaˈβ̞ãn̪d̪o].
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 14850, this pair ranks #282,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of acaban vs acabando
Shared letters: abcn. Private to "acaban": -. Private to "acabando": do.
"acaban" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "acabando" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "acaban" and "acabando" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "acaban" vs "acabando" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "acaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "acabando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acaban" and "acabando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acabando vs acampando". 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 #282,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.