brokenvsbrotanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,530
“broken” frequency rank
#44,598
“brotan” frequency rank
77128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature broken brotan
Definition Participio pasado del verbo (to) break. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de brotar.

Where the eye mixes broken and brotan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
broken
6 ch
brotan

Look-alike desk: broken vs brotan

A purely visual mix-up. broken (/ˈbɹəʊ.kən/) and brotan ([ˈbɾot̪ãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

broken is recorded at frequency rank #32,530, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbɹəʊ.kən/. brotan is at rank #44,598, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbɾot̪ãn].

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 77128, this pair ranks #16,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of broken vs brotan

Shared letters: bnor. Private to "broken": ek. Private to "brotan": at.

"broken" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "brotan" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brokenbbroken · borken · brkoen · broekn · brokenn · brokken · brokne · brroken
  • brotanbbrotan · bortan · broatn · brotann · brotna · brottan · brrotan · brtoan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "broken" and "brotan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbɹəʊ.kən/ versus [ˈbɾot̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "broken" or "brotan" show up more?
"broken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,530 in our Spanish list, against #44,598 for "brotan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "broken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brotan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "broken" and "brotan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "broca vs brotan". 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 #16,528 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