comportanvscompranWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,771
“comportan” frequency rank
#9,426
“compran” frequency rank
28197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comportan compran
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comportar o de comportarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comprar.

Where the eye mixes comportan and compran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. comportan runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against compran's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
comportan
7 ch
compran

Why the eye confuses comportan with compran

A purely visual mix-up. comportan ([kõmˈpoɾt̪ãn]) and compran ([ˈkõmpɾãn]) 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 28197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comportan is recorded at frequency rank #18,771, classified as averb, pronounced [kõmˈpoɾt̪ãn]. compran is at rank #9,426, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkõmpɾãn].

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 28197, this pair ranks #223,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of comportan vs compran

Shared letters: acmnopr. Private to "comportan": t. Private to "compran": -.

"comportan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "compran" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comportan ← ccomportan · cmoportan · commportan · comoprtan · comporatn · comporrtan · comportann · comportna
  • compran ← ccompran · cmopran · commpran · comparn · comppran · comprann · comprna · comprran

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "comportan" and "compran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõmˈpoɾt̪ãn] versus [ˈkõmpɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "comportan" or "compran" show up more?
"compran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,426 in our Spanish list, against #18,771 for "comportan". 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 "comportan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,155 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comportan" and "compran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comportan vs comporten". 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 #223,155 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