cesavscesanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,145
“cesa” frequency rank
#40,706
“cesan” frequency rank
67851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cesa cesan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cesar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cesar.

Where the eye mixes cesa and cesan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cesa
5 ch
cesan

Why the eye confuses cesa with cesan

A purely visual mix-up. cesa ([ˈsesa]) and cesan ([ˈsesãn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “cesa” sits inside “cesan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cesa is recorded at frequency rank #27,145, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsesa]. cesan is at rank #40,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsesãn].

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 67851, this pair ranks #36,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cesa vs cesan

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cesa": -. Private to "cesan": n.

"cesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cesan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cesaccesa · cessa · csea · ecsa
  • cesanccesan · ceasn · cesann · cesna · cessan · csean · ecsan · sesan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cesa" and "cesan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsesa] versus [ˈsesãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cesa" or "cesan"?
"cesa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,145 in our Spanish list, against #40,706 for "cesan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cesan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cesa" and "cesan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs cesan". 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 #36,053 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