adelantavsadelantanConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,856
“adelanta” frequency rank
#34,420
“adelantan” frequency rank
52276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adelanta adelantan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de adelantar o de adelantarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de adelantar o de adelantarse.

Where the eye mixes adelanta and adelantan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. adelanta runs 8 letters (VCVCVCCV) against adelantan's 9 (VCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
adelanta
9 ch
adelantan

Why the eye confuses adelanta with adelantan

A purely visual mix-up. adelanta ([að̞eˈlãn̪t̪a]) and adelantan ([að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “adelanta” sits inside “adelantan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adelanta is recorded at frequency rank #17,856, classified as averb, pronounced [að̞eˈlãn̪t̪a]. adelantan is at rank #34,420, tagged as averb, pronounced [að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn].

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 52276, this pair ranks #93,505 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adelanta vs adelantan

Shared letters: adelnt. Private to "adelanta": -. Private to "adelantan": -.

"adelanta" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV  ·  "adelantan" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adelantaaddelanta · adealnta · adelanat · adelannta · adelantta · adelatna · adellanta · adelnata
  • adelantanaddelantan · adealntan · adelanatn · adelanntan · adelantann · adelantna · adelanttan · adelatnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "adelanta" and "adelantan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([að̞eˈlãn̪t̪a] versus [að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adelanta" or "adelantan"?
"adelanta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,856 in our Spanish list, against #34,420 for "adelantan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "adelanta" and "adelantan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adelanta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "adelantan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,505 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adelanta" and "adelantan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adelantan vs adelantaron". 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 #93,505 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