alabanvsalabarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,557
“alaban” frequency rank
#27,841
“alabar” frequency rank
67398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alaban alabar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alabar. Expresar una valoración positiva o celebrar las bondades de alguien o algo, generalmente con palabras.

Where the eye mixes alaban and alabar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alaban and alabar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
alaban
6 ch
alabar

Why the eye confuses alaban with alabar

A purely visual mix-up. alaban ([aˈlaβ̞ãn]) and alabar ([alaˈβ̞aɾ]) 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 “alaban” becomes r in “alabar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alaban is recorded at frequency rank #39,557, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈlaβ̞ãn]. alabar is at rank #27,841, tagged as averb, pronounced [alaˈβ̞aɾ].

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 67398, this pair ranks #37,223 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alaban vs alabar

Shared letters: abl. Private to "alaban": n. Private to "alabar": r.

"alaban" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "alabar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alaban ← aalban · alaabn · alabann · alabban · alabna · alavan · albaan · allaban
  • alabar ← aalbar · alaabr · alabarr · alabbar · alabra · alavar · albaar · allabar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alaban" for "alabar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈlaβ̞ãn] versus [alaˈβ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alaban" vs "alabar" - which ranks higher?
"alabar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,841 in our Spanish list, against #39,557 for "alaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alabar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,223 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alaban" and "alabar" 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 #37,223 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