Which to use
“ahogado” is an adjective and “ahogan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,748
- “ahogado” frequency rank
- #37,934
- “ahogan” frequency rank
- 54682
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ahogado | ahogan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que se ahoga (tiene dificultad para respirar) o sufre ahogo (aflicción). | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de ahogar o de ahogarse. |
Where the eye mixes ahogado and ahogan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ahogado runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against ahogan's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ahogado vs ahogan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ahogado is [aoˈɣ̞að̞o] while ahogan is [aˈoɣ̞ãn]. 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 54682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ahogado is recorded at frequency rank #16,748, classified as anadj, pronounced [aoˈɣ̞að̞o]. ahogan is at rank #37,934, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈoɣ̞ãn].
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 54682, this pair ranks #82,225 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ahogado vs ahogan
Shared letters: agho. Private to "ahogado": d. Private to "ahogan": n.
"ahogado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "ahogan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ahogado" and "ahogan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ahogado" vs "ahogan" - which ranks higher?
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 "ahogado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ahogan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,225 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ahogado" and "ahogan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahogan vs asoman". 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 #82,225 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.