dabanvsdañenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,298
“daban” frequency rank
#47,695
“dañen” frequency rank
52993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature daban dañen
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de dar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de dañar.

Where the eye mixes daban and dañen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. daban and dañen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
daban
5 ch
dañen

Visual trap between daban and dañen

A purely visual mix-up. daban ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn]) and dañen ([ˈd̪aɲẽn]) 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 52993, 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]. dañen is at rank #47,695, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪aɲẽn].

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 52993, this pair ranks #90,066 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of daban vs dañen

Shared letters: adn. Private to "daban": b. Private to "dañen": eñ.

"daban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dañen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daban ← adban · daabn · dabann · dabban · dabna · davan · dbaan · ddaban

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "daban" and "dañen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn] versus [ˈd̪aɲẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "daban" or "dañen"?
"daban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,298 in our Spanish list, against #47,695 for "dañen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "daban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dañen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #90,066 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "daban" and "dañen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dañen vs donen". 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 #90,066 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