dabanvsdañarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,298
“daban” frequency rank
#9,272
“dañar” frequency rank
14570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature daban dañar
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dar. Hacer que alguien tener herida.

Where the eye mixes daban and dañar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
daban
5 ch
dañar

Why the eye confuses daban with dañar

A purely visual mix-up. daban ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn]) and dañar ([d̪aˈɲaɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

daban is recorded at frequency rank #5,298, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aβ̞ãn]. dañar is at rank #9,272, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪aˈɲaɾ].

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 14570, this pair ranks #283,592 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of daban vs dañar

Shared letters: ad. Private to "daban": bn. Private to "dañar": .

"daban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dañar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dabanadban · daabn · dabann · dabban · dabna · davan · dbaan · ddaban

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "daban" for "dañar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn] versus [d̪aˈɲaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "daban" vs "dañar" - which ranks higher?
"daban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,298 in our Spanish list, against #9,272 for "dañar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "daban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dañar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,592 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "daban" and "dañar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dañar vs danger". 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 #283,592 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