arrestanvsarrestarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,491
“arrestan” frequency rank
#15,776
“arrestar” frequency rank
45267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arrestan arrestar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de arrestar o de arrestarse. Poner preso.

Where the eye mixes arrestan and arrestar

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

8 ch
arrestan
8 ch
arrestar

Look-alike desk: arrestan vs arrestar

A purely visual mix-up. arrestan ([aˈrest̪ãn]) and arrestar ([aresˈt̪aɾ]) 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 - n in “arrestan” becomes r in “arrestar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arrestan is recorded at frequency rank #29,491, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈrest̪ãn]. arrestar is at rank #15,776, tagged as averb, pronounced [aresˈt̪aɾ].

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 45267, this pair ranks #132,431 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arrestan vs arrestar

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "arrestan": n. Private to "arrestar": -.

"arrestan" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "arrestar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arrestanarerstan · arestan · arresatn · arresstan · arrestann · arrestna · arresttan · arretsan
  • arrestararerstar · arestar · arresatr · arresstar · arrestarr · arrestra · arresttar · arretsar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arrestan" for "arrestar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([aˈrest̪ãn] versus [aresˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "arrestan" vs "arrestar" - which ranks higher?
"arrestar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,776 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "arrestan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arrestar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,431 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arrestan" and "arrestar" 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 #132,431 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