Which to use
“contestación” is a noun and “contestaron” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,966
- “contestación” frequency rank
- #25,578
- “contestaron” frequency rank
- 45544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contestación | contestaron |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acción o efecto de contestar | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contestar. |
Where the eye mixes contestación and contestaron
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contestación runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCVCVVC) against contestaron's 11 (CVCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: contestación vs contestaron
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contestación is [kõn̪t̪est̪aˈsjõn] while contestaron is [kõn̪t̪esˈt̪aɾõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contestación is recorded at frequency rank #19,966, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪t̪est̪aˈsjõn]. contestaron is at rank #25,578, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪esˈt̪aɾõn].
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 45544, this pair ranks #130,861 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contestación vs contestaron
Shared letters: acenost. Private to "contestación": ió. Private to "contestaron": r.
"contestación" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVVC · "contestaron" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contestaron ← ccontestaron · cnotestaron · conetstaron · conntestaron · contesatron · contesstaron · contestaorn · contestarno
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contestación" and "contestaron" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "contestación" or "contestaron"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contestación" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contestaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,861 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contestación" and "contestaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contactaron vs contestaron". 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 #130,861 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.