apagavsapaganWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,448
“apaga” frequency rank
#28,630
“apagan” frequency rank
39078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apaga apagan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apagar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes apaga and apagan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. apaga runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against apagan's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
apaga
6 ch
apagan

Visual trap between apaga and apagan

A purely visual mix-up. apaga ([aˈpaɣ̞a]) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “apaga” sits inside “apagan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apaga is recorded at frequency rank #10,448, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɣ̞a]. 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 39078, this pair ranks #166,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apaga vs apagan

Shared letters: agp. Private to "apaga": -. Private to "apagan": n.

"apaga" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "apagan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apagaaapga · apaag · apagga · apgaa · appaga · paaga
  • apaganaapgan · apaagn · apagann · apaggan · apagna · apgaan · appagan · paagan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apaga" and "apagan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpaɣ̞a] versus [aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apaga" vs "apagan" - which ranks higher?
"apaga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,448 in our Spanish list, against #28,630 for "apagan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "apaga" and "apagan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apaga" 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 #166,506 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apaga" and "apagan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apagan vs apartan". 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 #166,506 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