brotavsbrotanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,458
“brota” frequency rank
#44,598
“brotan” frequency rank
78056
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature brota brotan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de brotar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de brotar.

Where the eye mixes brota and brotan

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

5 ch
brota
6 ch
brotan

Why the eye confuses brota with brotan

A purely visual mix-up. brota ([ˈbɾot̪a]) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “brota” sits inside “brotan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

brota is recorded at frequency rank #33,458, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbɾot̪a]. 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 78056, this pair ranks #15,038 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of brota vs brotan

Shared letters: abort. Private to "brota": -. Private to "brotan": n.

"brota" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "brotan" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • brota ← bbrota · borta · broat · brotta · brrota · brtoa · rbota · vrota
  • brotan ← bbrotan · bortan · broatn · brotann · brotna · brottan · brrotan · brtoan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "brota" and "brotan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɾot̪a] versus [ˈbɾot̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "brota" vs "brotan" - which ranks higher?
"brota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,458 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "brota" 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 #15,038 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "brota" 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 #15,038 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