contestaciónvscontestaronWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contestación is a noun, contestaron is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contestación and contestaron apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
contestación
11 ch
contestaron

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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": . Private to "contestaron": r.

"contestación" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVVC  ·  "contestaron" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contestaronccontestaron · cnotestaron · conetstaron · conntestaron · contesatron · contesstaron · contestaorn · contestarno

Frequency comparison

contestación#19,966
contestaron#25,578

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contestación" and "contestaron" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contestación" is a noun and "contestaron" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contestación" or "contestaron"?
"contestación" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,966 in our Spanish list, against #25,578 for "contestaron". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering contestación vs contestaron

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “contestación”; for a verb, it's “contestaron”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “contestación” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list