Which to use
“contestan” and “contestar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,967
- “contestan” frequency rank
- #4,230
- “contestar” frequency rank
- 24197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contestan | contestar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de contestar. | Responder por escrito, de palabra o por señas. |
Where the eye mixes contestan and contestar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. contestan and contestar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses contestan with contestar
A purely visual mix-up. contestan ([kõn̪ˈt̪est̪ãn]) and contestar ([kõn̪t̪esˈt̪aɾ]) 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 “contestan” becomes r in “contestar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contestan is recorded at frequency rank #19,967, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪est̪ãn]. contestar is at rank #4,230, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪esˈt̪aɾ].
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 24197, this pair ranks #242,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contestan vs contestar
Shared letters: acenost. Private to "contestan": -. Private to "contestar": r.
"contestan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "contestar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contestan" and "contestar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contestan" or "contestar" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contestan" and "contestar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contestan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contestar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contestan" and "contestar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contestan vs contrastan". 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 #242,288 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.