complicanvscomplicandoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,713
“complican” frequency rank
#42,892
“complicando” frequency rank
74605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complican complicando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de complicar. Gerundio de complicar.

Where the eye mixes complican and complicando

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. complican runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against complicando's 11 (CVCCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
complican
11 ch
complicando

Visual trap between complican and complicando

A purely visual mix-up. complican ([kõmˈplikãn]) and complicando ([kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o]) 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 extra letter(s) - “complican” sits inside “complicando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

complican is recorded at frequency rank #31,713, classified as averb, pronounced [kõmˈplikãn]. complicando is at rank #42,892, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o].

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 74605, this pair ranks #21,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of complican vs complicando

Shared letters: acilmnop. Private to "complican": -. Private to "complicando": d.

"complican" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "complicando" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • complican ← ccomplican · cmoplican · comlpican · commplican · compilcan · complcian · compliacn · complicann
  • complicando ← ccomplicando · cmoplicando · comlpicando · commplicando · compilcando · complciando · compliacndo · complicadno

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "complican" and "complicando" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõmˈplikãn] versus [kõmpliˈkãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "complican" vs "complicando" - which ranks higher?
"complican" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,713 in our Spanish list, against #42,892 for "complicando". 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 "complican" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "complicando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,027 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complican" and "complicando" 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 #21,027 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