caminabanvscaminanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,928
“caminaban” frequency rank
#17,064
“caminan” frequency rank
51992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caminaban caminan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de caminar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de caminar.

Where the eye mixes caminaban and caminan

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

9 ch
caminaban
7 ch
caminan

Look-alike desk: caminaban vs caminan

A purely visual mix-up. caminaban ([kamiˈnaβ̞ãn]) and caminan ([kaˈminãn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caminaban is recorded at frequency rank #34,928, classified as averb, pronounced [kamiˈnaβ̞ãn]. caminan is at rank #17,064, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaˈminãn].

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 51992, this pair ranks #94,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caminaban vs caminan

Shared letters: acimn. Private to "caminaban": b. Private to "caminan": -.

"caminaban" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "caminan" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caminabanacminaban · caimnaban · camianban · caminaabn · caminabann · caminabban · caminabna · caminavan
  • caminanacminan · caimnan · camiann · caminann · caminnan · camminan · camnian · ccaminan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caminaban" and "caminan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kamiˈnaβ̞ãn] versus [kaˈminãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caminaban" or "caminan" show up more?
"caminan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,064 in our Spanish list, against #34,928 for "caminaban". 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 "caminaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caminan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caminaban" and "caminan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caminaban vs caminaron". 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 #94,974 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