Which to use
“cantan” is a verb and “cantes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,461
- “cantan” frequency rank
- #38,547
- “cantes” frequency rank
- 49008
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cantan | cantes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cantar. | Forma del plural de cante. |
Where the eye mixes cantan and cantes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cantan and cantes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: cantan vs cantes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cantan is [ˈkãn̪t̪ãn] while cantes is [ˈkãn̪t̪es]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 49008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cantan is recorded at frequency rank #10,461, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkãn̪t̪ãn]. cantes is at rank #38,547, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãn̪t̪es].
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 49008, this pair ranks #111,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cantan vs cantes
Shared letters: acnt. Private to "cantan": -. Private to "cantes": es.
"cantan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cantes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cantan" for "cantes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cantan" or "cantes"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cantan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cantan" and "cantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cantes vs cats". 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 #111,281 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.