apartadavsapartanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: apartada is a participle, apartan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apartada” is a participle and “apartan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,935
“apartada” frequency rank
#49,421
“apartan” frequency rank
83356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apartada apartan
Definition Forma del femenino de apartado. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de apartar o de apartarse.

Where the eye mixes apartada and apartan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. apartada runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCV) against apartan's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
apartada
7 ch
apartan

Why the eye confuses apartada with apartan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apartada is [apaɾˈt̪að̞a] while apartan is [aˈpaɾt̪ãn]. 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 (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apartada is recorded at frequency rank #33,935, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [apaɾˈt̪að̞a]. apartan is at rank #49,421, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpaɾt̪ãn].

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 83356, this pair ranks #8,224 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of apartada vs apartan

Shared letters: aprt. Private to "apartada": d. Private to "apartan": n.

"apartada" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "apartan" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apartadaaaprtada · aparatda · aparrtada · apartaad · apartadda · apartdaa · aparttada · apatrada
  • apartanaaprtan · aparatn · aparrtan · apartann · apartna · aparttan · apatran · appartan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apartada" for "apartan" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apartada" is a participle and "apartan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "apartada" or "apartan"?
"apartada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,935 in our Spanish list, against #49,421 for "apartan". 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 "apartada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apartan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,224 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apartada" and "apartan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apartan vs apartando". 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 #8,224 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