adorarvsadornanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,289
“adorar” frequency rank
#35,848
“adornan” frequency rank
59137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adorar adornan
Definition Dar expresión a la adoración de un ídolo o dios según las normas propias del culto o religión. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de adornar.

Where the eye mixes adorar and adornan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. adorar runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against adornan's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
adorar
7 ch
adornan

Visual trap between adorar and adornan

A purely visual mix-up. adorar ([að̞oˈɾaɾ]) and adornan ([aˈð̞oɾnãn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adorar is recorded at frequency rank #23,289, classified as averb, pronounced [að̞oˈɾaɾ]. adornan is at rank #35,848, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈð̞oɾnãn].

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 59137, this pair ranks #63,776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of adorar vs adornan

Shared letters: ador. Private to "adorar": -. Private to "adornan": n.

"adorar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "adornan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adoraraddorar · adoarr · adorarr · adorrar · adroar · aodrar · daorar
  • adornanaddornan · adonran · adornann · adornna · adornnan · adorrnan · adronan · aodrnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "adorar" for "adornan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([að̞oˈɾaɾ] versus [aˈð̞oɾnãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "adorar" vs "adornan" - which ranks higher?
"adorar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,289 in our Spanish list, against #35,848 for "adornan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "adorar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "adornan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adorar" and "adornan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adoraban vs adornan". 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 #63,776 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