cancelenvscánceresConfusable pair

Quick tell: cancelen is a verb, cánceres is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cancelen” is a verb and “cánceres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,689
“cancelen” frequency rank
#38,621
“cánceres” frequency rank
79310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cancelen cánceres
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de cancelar. Forma del plural de cáncer.

Where the eye mixes cancelen and cánceres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cancelen and cánceres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
cancelen
8 ch
cánceres

Look-alike desk: cancelen vs cánceres

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cancelen is [kãnˈselẽn] while cánceres is [ˈkãnseɾes]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cancelen is recorded at frequency rank #40,689, classified as averb, pronounced [kãnˈselẽn]. cánceres is at rank #38,621, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãnseɾes].

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 79310, this pair ranks #13,180 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cancelen vs cánceres

Shared letters: cen. Private to "cancelen": al. Private to "cánceres": rsá.

"cancelen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "cánceres" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cancelen ← acncelen · cacnelen · canccelen · canceeln · cancelenn · cancellen · cancelne · cancleen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cancelen" for "cánceres" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cancelen" is a verb and "cánceres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cancelen" or "cánceres"?
"cánceres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,621 in our Spanish list, against #40,689 for "cancelen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cancelen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cánceres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,180 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cancelen" and "cánceres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cancelen vs cancelo". 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 #13,180 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