apaganvsapelanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,630
“apagan” frequency rank
#42,808
“apelan” frequency rank
71438
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes apagan and apelan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. apagan and apelan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
apagan
6 ch
apelan

Why the eye confuses apagan with apelan

A purely visual mix-up. apagan ([aˈpaɣ̞ãn]) and apelan ([aˈpelãn]) 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 71438, 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]. apelan is at rank #42,808, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpelãn].

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 71438, this pair ranks #27,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of apagan vs apelan

Shared letters: anp. Private to "apagan": g. Private to "apelan": el.

"apagan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apelan" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apaganaapgan · apaagn · apagann · apaggan · apagna · apgaan · appagan · paagan
  • apelanaeplan · apealn · apelann · apellan · apelna · aplean · appelan · paelan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apagan" for "apelan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpaɣ̞ãn] versus [aˈpelãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "apagan" or "apelan"?
"apagan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,630 in our Spanish list, against #42,808 for "apelan". 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 "apagan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apelan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,522 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagan" and "apelan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anhelan vs apelan". 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 #27,522 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