apagónvsapaguenConfusable pair

Quick tell: apagón is a noun, apaguen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apagón” is a noun and “apaguen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,276
“apagón” frequency rank
#37,954
“apaguen” frequency rank
53230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apagón apaguen
Definition Corte temporal, súbito e inesperado del suministro de energía eléctrica. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de apagar.

Where the eye mixes apagón and apaguen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. apagón runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against apaguen's 7 (VCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
apagón
7 ch
apaguen

Visual trap between apagón and apaguen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apagón is [apaˈɣ̞õn] while apaguen is [aˈpaɣ̞ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apagón is recorded at frequency rank #15,276, classified as anoun, pronounced [apaˈɣ̞õn]. apaguen is at rank #37,954, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɣ̞ẽn].

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 53230, this pair ranks #88,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apagón vs apaguen

Shared letters: agnp. Private to "apagón": ó. Private to "apaguen": eu.

"apagón" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apaguen" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apaguen ← aapguen · apageun · apagguen · apaguenn · apagune · apaugen · apgauen · appaguen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "apagón" and "apaguen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apagón" is a noun and "apaguen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "apagón" vs "apaguen" - which ranks higher?
"apagón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,276 in our Spanish list, against #37,954 for "apaguen". 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 "apagón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apaguen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #88,890 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagón" and "apaguen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apagan vs apaguen". 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 #88,890 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