Which to use
“contaminan” and “contaminar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,960
- “contaminan” frequency rank
- #31,284
- “contaminar” frequency rank
- 67244
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contaminan | contaminar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de contaminar. | Inmiscuir una cosa con otra de diferente naturaleza. |
Where the eye mixes contaminan and contaminar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contaminan and contaminar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between contaminan and contaminar
A purely visual mix-up. contaminan ([kõn̪t̪aˈminãn]) and contaminar ([kõn̪t̪amiˈnaɾ]) 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 “contaminan” becomes r in “contaminar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contaminan is recorded at frequency rank #35,960, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪aˈminãn]. contaminar is at rank #31,284, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪amiˈnaɾ].
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 67244, this pair ranks #37,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contaminan vs contaminar
Shared letters: acimnot. Private to "contaminan": -. Private to "contaminar": r.
"contaminan" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC · "contaminar" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contaminan ← ccontaminan · cnotaminan · conatminan · conntaminan · contaimnan · contamiann · contaminann · contaminnan
- contaminar ← ccontaminar · cnotaminar · conatminar · conntaminar · contaimnar · contamianr · contaminarr · contaminnar
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contaminan" and "contaminar" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "contaminan" or "contaminar"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #37,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contaminan" and "contaminar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contaminan vs contaminando". 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 #37,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.