carganvscargaronWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,893
“cargan” frequency rank
#33,987
“cargaron” frequency rank
51880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cargan cargaron
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cargar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de cargar.

Where the eye mixes cargan and cargaron

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

6 ch
cargan
8 ch
cargaron

Why the eye confuses cargan with cargaron

A purely visual mix-up. cargan ([ˈkaɾɣ̞ãn]) and cargaron ([kaɾˈɣ̞aɾõn]) 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 51880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cargan is recorded at frequency rank #17,893, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaɾɣ̞ãn]. cargaron is at rank #33,987, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaɾˈɣ̞aɾõn].

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 51880, this pair ranks #95,543 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cargan vs cargaron

Shared letters: acgnr. Private to "cargan": -. Private to "cargaron": o.

"cargan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cargaron" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cargan ← acrgan · cagran · caragn · cargann · carggan · cargna · carrgan · ccargan
  • cargaron ← acrgaron · cagraron · caragron · cargaorn · cargarno · cargaronn · cargarron · carggaron

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cargan" and "cargaron" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaɾɣ̞ãn] versus [kaɾˈɣ̞aɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cargan" or "cargaron" show up more?
"cargan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,893 in our Spanish list, against #33,987 for "cargaron". 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 "cargan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cargaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,543 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cargan" and "cargaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "captaron vs cargaron". 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 #95,543 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