AdánvsanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Adán is a name, an is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Adán” is a name and “an” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,292
“Adán” frequency rank
#3,030
“an” frequency rank
15322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Adán an
Definition Nombre de pila de varón. Año.

Where the eye mixes Adán and an

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Adán
2 ch
an

Look-alike desk: Adán vs an

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Adán is [aˈð̞ãn] while an is [an]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Adán is recorded at frequency rank #12,292, classified as aname, pronounced [aˈð̞ãn]. an is at rank #3,030, tagged as anoun, pronounced [an].

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 15322, this pair ranks #280,638 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Adán vs an

Shared letters: an. Private to "Adán": . Private to "an": -.

"Adán" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "an" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Adán" and "an" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Adán" is a name and "an" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Adán" or "an"?
"an" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,030 in our Spanish list, against #12,292 for "Adán". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Adán" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "an" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #280,638 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Adán" and "an" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Adán vs aslan". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #280,638 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