captanvscazanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,093
“captan” frequency rank
#36,453
“cazan” frequency rank
65546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature captan cazan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de captar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cazar.

Where the eye mixes captan and cazan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. captan runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cazan's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
captan
5 ch
cazan

Look-alike desk: captan vs cazan

A purely visual mix-up. captan ([ˈkapt̪ãn]) and cazan ([ˈkasãn]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

captan is recorded at frequency rank #29,093, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkapt̪ãn]. cazan is at rank #36,453, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkasãn].

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 65546, this pair ranks #42,326 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of captan vs cazan

Shared letters: acn. Private to "captan": pt. Private to "cazan": z.

"captan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cazan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • captan ← acptan · capatn · capptan · captann · captna · capttan · catpan · ccaptan
  • cazan ← aczan · caazn · cazann · cazna · cazzan · ccazan · czaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "captan" for "cazan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkapt̪ãn] versus [ˈkasãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "captan" vs "cazan" - which ranks higher?
"captan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,093 in our Spanish list, against #36,453 for "cazan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "captan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cazan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,326 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "captan" and "cazan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cazan vs copan". 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 #42,326 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