cortabanvscreabanTell them apart

Which to use

“cortaban” and “creaban” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,666
“cortaban” frequency rank
#48,322
“creaban” frequency rank
92988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cortaban creaban
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cortar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de crear.

Where the eye mixes cortaban and creaban

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
cortaban
7 ch
creaban

Why the eye confuses cortaban with creaban

A purely visual mix-up. cortaban ([koɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]) and creaban ([kɾeˈaβ̞ãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cortaban is recorded at frequency rank #44,666, classified as averb, pronounced [koɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. creaban is at rank #48,322, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɾeˈaβ̞ãn].

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 92988, this pair ranks #1,292 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cortaban vs creaban

Shared letters: abcnr. Private to "cortaban": ot. Private to "creaban": e.

"cortaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "creaban" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cortabanccortaban · coratban · corrtaban · cortaabn · cortabann · cortabban · cortabna · cortavan
  • creabanccreaban · craeban · creaabn · creabann · creabban · creabna · creavan · crebaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cortaban" and "creaban" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([koɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn] versus [kɾeˈaβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cortaban" or "creaban" show up more?
"cortaban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,666 in our Spanish list, against #48,322 for "creaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cortaban" and "creaban" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cortaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "creaban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,292 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cortaban" and "creaban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colgaban vs cortaban". 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 #1,292 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list