Which to use
“alabado” is an adjective and “alaban” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,562
- “alabado” frequency rank
- #39,557
- “alaban” frequency rank
- 62119
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alabado | alaban |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que recibe o merece alabanza o elogio. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alabar. |
Where the eye mixes alabado and alaban
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alabado runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against alaban's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses alabado with alaban
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alabado is [alaˈβ̞að̞o] while alaban is [aˈlaβ̞ãn]. 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 62119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alabado is recorded at frequency rank #22,562, classified as anadj, pronounced [alaˈβ̞að̞o]. alaban is at rank #39,557, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈlaβ̞ãn].
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 62119, this pair ranks #53,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of alabado vs alaban
Shared letters: abl. Private to "alabado": do. Private to "alaban": n.
"alabado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "alaban" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "alabado" and "alaban" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alabado" or "alaban" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "alabado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alabado" and "alaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alaban vs Albany". 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 #53,071 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.