comentabanvscomentanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,119
“comentaban” frequency rank
#11,931
“comentan” frequency rank
51050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comentaban comentan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de comentar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comentar.

Where the eye mixes comentaban and comentan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
comentaban
8 ch
comentan

Visual trap between comentaban and comentan

A purely visual mix-up. comentaban ([komẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and comentan ([koˈmẽn̪t̪ãn]) 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 51050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comentaban is recorded at frequency rank #39,119, classified as averb, pronounced [komẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. comentan is at rank #11,931, tagged as averb, pronounced [koˈmẽn̪t̪ãn].

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 51050, this pair ranks #99,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of comentaban vs comentan

Shared letters: acemnot. Private to "comentaban": b. Private to "comentan": -.

"comentaban" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC  ·  "comentan" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comentabanccomentaban · cmoentaban · coemntaban · comenatban · comenntaban · comentaabn · comentabann · comentabban
  • comentanccomentan · cmoentan · coemntan · comenatn · comenntan · comentann · comentna · comenttan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comentaban" for "comentan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([komẽn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn] versus [koˈmẽn̪t̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "comentaban" vs "comentan" - which ranks higher?
"comentan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,931 in our Spanish list, against #39,119 for "comentaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "comentaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comentan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,926 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comentaban" and "comentan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comentaban vs comentadas". 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 #99,926 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