complicanvscomplicarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,713
“complican” frequency rank
#24,067
“complicar” frequency rank
55780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complican complicar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de complicar. Mezclar, combinar o unir cosas diversas entre sí.

Where the eye mixes complican and complicar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. complican and complicar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
complican
9 ch
complicar

Why the eye confuses complican with complicar

A purely visual mix-up. complican ([kõmˈplikãn]) and complicar ([kõmpliˈkaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “complican” becomes r in “complicar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55780, 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]. complicar is at rank #24,067, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõmpliˈkaɾ].

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 55780, this pair ranks #77,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of complican vs complicar

Shared letters: acilmop. Private to "complican": n. Private to "complicar": r.

"complican" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "complicar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • complican ← ccomplican · cmoplican · comlpican · commplican · compilcan · complcian · compliacn · complicann
  • complicar ← ccomplicar · cmoplicar · comlpicar · commplicar · compilcar · complciar · compliacr · complicarr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "complican" and "complicar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõmˈplikãn] versus [kõmpliˈkaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "complican" or "complicar"?
"complicar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,067 in our Spanish list, against #31,713 for "complican". 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 "complicar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,369 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complican" and "complicar" 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 #77,369 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