apaganvsapagóWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,630
“apagan” frequency rank
#22,937
“apagó” frequency rank
51567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes apagan and apagó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. apagan runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against apagó's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
apagan
5 ch
apagó

Look-alike desk: apagan vs apagó

A purely visual mix-up. apagan ([aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and apagó ([apaˈɣ̞o]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apagan is recorded at frequency rank #28,630, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɣ̞ãn]. apagó is at rank #22,937, tagged as averb, pronounced [apaˈɣ̞o].

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 51567, this pair ranks #97,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apagan vs apagó

Shared letters: agp. Private to "apagan": n. Private to "apagó": ó.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apagan ← aapgan · apaagn · apagann · apaggan · apagna · apgaan · appagan · paagan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apagan" for "apagó" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpaɣ̞ãn] versus [apaˈɣ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apagan" vs "apagó" - which ranks higher?
"apagó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,937 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "apagan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apagó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagan" and "apagó" 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 #97,244 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