Which to use
“complicado” and “complican” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,971
- “complicado” frequency rank
- #31,713
- “complican” frequency rank
- 34684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | complicado | complican |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participio de complicar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de complicar. |
Where the eye mixes complicado and complican
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. complicado runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCVCV) against complican's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses complicado with complican
A purely visual mix-up. complicado ([kõmpliˈkað̞o]) and complican ([kõmˈplikãn]) 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 34684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
complicado is recorded at frequency rank #2,971, classified as averb, pronounced [kõmpliˈkað̞o]. complican is at rank #31,713, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmˈplikãn].
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 34684, this pair ranks #190,143 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of complicado vs complican
Shared letters: acilmop. Private to "complicado": d. Private to "complican": n.
"complicado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV · "complican" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- complicado ← ccomplicado · cmoplicado · comlpicado · commplicado · compilcado · complciado · compliacdo · complicaddo
- complican ← ccomplican · cmoplican · comlpican · commplican · compilcan · complcian · compliacn · complicann
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "complicado" for "complican" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "complicado" or "complican" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "complicado" and "complican" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "complicado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "complican" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,143 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "complicado" and "complican" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "complican vs complice". 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 #190,143 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.