alabanvsapaganWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,557
“alaban” frequency rank
#28,630
“apagan” frequency rank
68187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alaban apagan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de alabar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes alaban and apagan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. alaban and apagan 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
apagan

Why the eye confuses alaban with apagan

A purely visual mix-up. alaban ([aˈlaβ̞ãn]) and apagan ([aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68187, 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]. apagan is at rank #28,630, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɣ̞ãn].

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 68187, this pair ranks #35,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alaban vs apagan

Shared letters: an. Private to "alaban": bl. Private to "apagan": gp.

"alaban" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apagan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alaban ← aalban · alaabn · alabann · alabban · alabna · alavan · albaan · allaban
  • apagan ← aapgan · apaagn · apagann · apaggan · apagna · apgaan · appagan · paagan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "alaban" and "apagan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈlaβ̞ãn] versus [aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "alaban" or "apagan" show up more?
"apagan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,630 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.

What to do next

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 "apagan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,144 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alaban" and "apagan" 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 #35,144 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