cansadovscansaronWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cansado is a adjective, cansaron is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cansado” is an adjective and “cansaron” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,987
“cansado” frequency rank
#41,234
“cansaron” frequency rank
45221
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cansado cansaron
Definition Débil físicamente, por exceso de ejercicio o por enfermedad. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de cansar o de cansarse.

Where the eye mixes cansado and cansaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cansado runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against cansaron's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cansado
8 ch
cansaron

Why the eye confuses cansado with cansaron

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cansado is [kãnˈsað̞o] while cansaron is [kãnˈsaɾõn]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cansado is recorded at frequency rank #3,987, classified as anadj, pronounced [kãnˈsað̞o]. cansaron is at rank #41,234, tagged as averb, pronounced [kãnˈsaɾõn].

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 45221, this pair ranks #132,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cansado vs cansaron

Shared letters: acnos. Private to "cansado": d. Private to "cansaron": r.

"cansado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "cansaron" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cansado ← acnsado · canasdo · cannsado · cansaddo · cansaod · cansdao · canssado · casnado
  • cansaron ← acnsaron · canasron · cannsaron · cansaorn · cansarno · cansaronn · cansarron · cansraon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cansado" for "cansaron" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cansado" is an adjective and "cansaron" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cansado" or "cansaron" show up more?
"cansado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,987 in our Spanish list, against #41,234 for "cansaron". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "cansado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cansaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cansado" and "cansaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cansaron vs cántaros". 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 #132,673 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