citanvscotasConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,308
“citan” frequency rank
#27,549
“cotas” frequency rank
42857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citan cotas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de citar o de citarse. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de cotar.

Where the eye mixes citan and cotas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
citan
5 ch
cotas

Why the eye confuses citan with cotas

A purely visual mix-up. citan ([ˈsit̪ãn]) and cotas ([ˈkot̪as]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citan is recorded at frequency rank #15,308, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsit̪ãn]. cotas is at rank #27,549, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkot̪as].

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 42857, this pair ranks #145,919 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of citan vs cotas

Shared letters: act. Private to "citan": in. Private to "cotas": os.

"citan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cotas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citanccitan · ciatn · citann · cittan · ctian · ictan · sitan
  • cotasccotas · coats · cotass · cottas · ctoas · octas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "citan" for "cotas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsit̪ãn] versus [ˈkot̪as]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "citan" or "cotas"?
"citan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,308 in our Spanish list, against #27,549 for "cotas". 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 "citan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cotas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,919 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citan" and "cotas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cotas vs Cova". 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 #145,919 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