apruebanvsapruebenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,840
“aprueban” frequency rank
#26,310
“aprueben” frequency rank
40150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aprueban aprueben
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de aprobar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de aprobar.

Where the eye mixes aprueban and aprueben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. aprueban and aprueben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
aprueban
8 ch
aprueben

Look-alike desk: aprueban vs aprueben

A purely visual mix-up. aprueban ([aˈpɾweβ̞ãn]) and aprueben ([aˈpɾweβ̞ẽn]) 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 a single letter - a in “aprueban” becomes e in “aprueben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aprueban is recorded at frequency rank #13,840, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈpɾweβ̞ãn]. aprueben is at rank #26,310, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈpɾweβ̞ẽn].

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 40150, this pair ranks #160,616 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aprueban vs aprueben

Shared letters: abenpru. Private to "aprueban": -. Private to "aprueben": -.

"aprueban" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "aprueben" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aprueban ← apprueban · apreuban · aprrueban · aprubean · aprueabn · apruebann · apruebban · apruebna
  • aprueben ← apprueben · apreuben · aprrueben · aprubeen · apruebben · apruebenn · apruebne · aprueebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aprueban" and "aprueben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpɾweβ̞ãn] versus [aˈpɾweβ̞ẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "aprueban" or "aprueben" show up more?
"aprueban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,840 in our Spanish list, against #26,310 for "aprueben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aprueban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aprueben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,616 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aprueban" and "aprueben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aprietan vs aprueban". 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 #160,616 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