Which to use
“contaban” and “cortaban” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,119
- “contaban” frequency rank
- #44,666
- “cortaban” frequency rank
- 56785
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contaban | cortaban |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de contar. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cortar. |
Where the eye mixes contaban and cortaban
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contaban and cortaban follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: contaban vs cortaban
A purely visual mix-up. contaban ([kõn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and cortaban ([koɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) 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 “contaban” becomes r in “cortaban”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contaban is recorded at frequency rank #12,119, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. cortaban is at rank #44,666, tagged as averb, pronounced [koɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn].
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 56785, this pair ranks #73,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contaban vs cortaban
Shared letters: abcnot. Private to "contaban": -. Private to "cortaban": r.
"contaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "cortaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contaban" and "cortaban" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contaban" or "cortaban" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cortaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contaban" and "cortaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cortaban vs creaban". 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 #73,133 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.