amabanvsapaganWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,925
“amaban” frequency rank
#28,630
“apagan” frequency rank
62555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amaban apagan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de amar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes amaban and apagan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. amaban 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
amaban
6 ch
apagan

Look-alike desk: amaban vs apagan

A purely visual mix-up. amaban ([aˈmaβ̞ãn]) 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 62555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amaban is recorded at frequency rank #33,925, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈmaβ̞ãn]. 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 62555, this pair ranks #51,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of amaban vs apagan

Shared letters: an. Private to "amaban": bm. Private to "apagan": gp.

"amaban" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apagan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amabanaamban · amaabn · amabann · amabban · amabna · amavan · ambaan · ammaban
  • apaganaapgan · apaagn · apagann · apaggan · apagna · apgaan · appagan · paagan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "amaban" and "apagan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈmaβ̞ãn] versus [aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "amaban" or "apagan"?
"apagan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,630 in our Spanish list, against #33,925 for "amaban". 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 "amaban" 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 #51,629 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amaban" and "apagan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amaban vs amadas". 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 #51,629 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