Which to use
“adelantan” and “adelantar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,420
- “adelantan” frequency rank
- #12,961
- “adelantar” frequency rank
- 47381
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adelantan | adelantar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de adelantar o de adelantarse. | Pasar delante de otro. Realizar una acción antes que otro. |
Where the eye mixes adelantan and adelantar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. adelantan and adelantar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses adelantan with adelantar
A purely visual mix-up. adelantan ([að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn]) and adelantar ([að̞elãn̪ˈt̪aɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “adelantan” becomes r in “adelantar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adelantan is recorded at frequency rank #34,420, classified as averb, pronounced [að̞eˈlãn̪t̪ãn]. adelantar is at rank #12,961, tagged as averb, pronounced [að̞elãn̪ˈt̪aɾ].
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 47381, this pair ranks #120,353 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of adelantan vs adelantar
Shared letters: adelnt. Private to "adelantan": -. Private to "adelantar": r.
"adelantan" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCVC · "adelantar" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "adelantan" for "adelantar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "adelantan" or "adelantar"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "adelantan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adelantar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #120,353 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adelantan" and "adelantar" 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 #120,353 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.