arrestadovsarrestanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: arrestado is a adjective, arrestan is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arrestado” is an adjective and “arrestan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,390
“arrestado” frequency rank
#29,491
“arrestan” frequency rank
36881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arrestado arrestan
Definition Audaz, arrojado, intrépido. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de arrestar o de arrestarse.

Where the eye mixes arrestado and arrestan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. arrestado runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCV) against arrestan's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
arrestado
8 ch
arrestan

Look-alike desk: arrestado vs arrestan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arrestado is [aresˈt̪að̞o] while arrestan is [aˈrest̪ãn]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrestado is recorded at frequency rank #7,390, classified as anadj, pronounced [aresˈt̪að̞o]. arrestan is at rank #29,491, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈrest̪ãn].

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 36881, this pair ranks #178,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arrestado vs arrestan

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "arrestado": do. Private to "arrestan": n.

"arrestado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "arrestan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arrestado ← arerstado · arestado · arresatdo · arresstado · arrestaddo · arrestaod · arrestdao · arresttado
  • arrestan ← arerstan · arestan · arresatn · arresstan · arrestann · arrestna · arresttan · arretsan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arrestado" and "arrestan" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arrestado" is an adjective and "arrestan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "arrestado" or "arrestan" show up more?
"arrestado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,390 in our Spanish list, against #29,491 for "arrestan". 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 "arrestado" and "arrestan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arrestado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arrestan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arrestado" and "arrestan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arresta vs arrestan". 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 #178,290 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