Which to use
“adelantado” is an adjective and “adelantan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,946
- “adelantado” frequency rank
- #34,420
- “adelantan” frequency rank
- 42366
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adelantado | adelantan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Atrevido, que no guarda respeto ni atención. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de adelantar o de adelantarse. |
Where the eye mixes adelantado and adelantan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. adelantado runs 10 letters (VCVCVCCVCV) against adelantan's 9 (VCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses adelantado with adelantan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: adelantado is [að̞elãn̪ˈt̪að̞o] while adelantan is [að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adelantado is recorded at frequency rank #7,946, classified as anadj, pronounced [að̞elãn̪ˈt̪að̞o]. 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 42366, this pair ranks #148,622 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of adelantado vs adelantan
Shared letters: adelnt. Private to "adelantado": o. Private to "adelantan": -.
"adelantado" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCV · "adelantan" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- adelantado ← addelantado · adealntado · adelanatdo · adelanntado · adelantaddo · adelantaod · adelantdao · adelanttado
- adelantan ← addelantan · adealntan · adelanatn · adelanntan · adelantann · adelantna · adelanttan · adelatnan
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "adelantado" for "adelantan" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "adelantado" or "adelantan" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "adelantado" 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 #148,622 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adelantado" 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 #148,622 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.