cursabavscursanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,691
“cursaba” frequency rank
#42,926
“cursan” frequency rank
90617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cursaba cursan
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de cursar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cursar.

Where the eye mixes cursaba and cursan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cursaba runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against cursan's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cursaba
6 ch
cursan

Visual trap between cursaba and cursan

A purely visual mix-up. cursaba ([kuɾˈsaβ̞a]) and cursan ([ˈkuɾsãn]) 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 90617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cursaba is recorded at frequency rank #47,691, classified as averb, pronounced [kuɾˈsaβ̞a]. cursan is at rank #42,926, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkuɾsãn].

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 90617, this pair ranks #2,407 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cursaba vs cursan

Shared letters: acrsu. Private to "cursaba": b. Private to "cursan": n.

"cursaba" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "cursan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cursaba ← ccursaba · crusaba · curasba · currsaba · cursaab · cursabba · cursava · cursbaa
  • cursan ← ccursan · crusan · curasn · currsan · cursann · cursna · curssan · cusran

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cursaba" for "cursan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kuɾˈsaβ̞a] versus [ˈkuɾsãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cursaba" or "cursan" show up more?
"cursan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,926 in our Spanish list, against #47,691 for "cursaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cursaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cursan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,407 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cursaba" and "cursan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cursaba vs cursada". 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 #2,407 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