bailanvsBazánTell them apart

Quick tell: bailan is a verb, Bazán is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bailan” is a verb and “Bazán” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,163
“bailan” frequency rank
#29,510
“Bazán” frequency rank
47673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bailan Bazán
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de bailar. Apellido

Where the eye mixes bailan and Bazán

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bailan runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Bazán's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bailan
5 ch
Bazán

Look-alike desk: bailan vs Bazán

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bailan is [ˈbajlãn] while Bazán is [baˈsãn]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bailan is recorded at frequency rank #18,163, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbajlãn]. Bazán is at rank #29,510, tagged as aname, pronounced [baˈsãn].

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 47673, this pair ranks #118,715 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bailan vs Bazán

Shared letters: abn. Private to "bailan": il. Private to "Bazán": zá.

"bailan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Bazán" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bailan ← abilan · baialn · bailann · baillan · bailna · balian · bbailan · bialan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bailan" for "Bazán" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bailan" is a verb and "Bazán" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bailan" or "Bazán"?
"bailan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,163 in our Spanish list, against #29,510 for "Bazán". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bailan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bazán" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,715 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bailan" and "Bazán" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bain vs Bazán". 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 #118,715 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