dabanvsdurabanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,298
“daban” frequency rank
#41,315
“duraban” frequency rank
46613
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature daban duraban
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 pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de durar.

Where the eye mixes daban and duraban

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

5 ch
daban
7 ch
duraban

Why the eye confuses daban with duraban

A purely visual mix-up. daban ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn]) and duraban ([d̪uˈɾaβ̞ãn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46613, 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]. duraban is at rank #41,315, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪uˈɾaβ̞ãn].

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 46613, this pair ranks #124,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of daban vs duraban

Shared letters: abdn. Private to "daban": -. Private to "duraban": ru.

"daban" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "duraban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daban ← adban · daabn · dabann · dabban · dabna · davan · dbaan · ddaban
  • duraban ← dduraban · druaban · duarban · duraabn · durabann · durabban · durabna · duravan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "daban" for "duraban" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪aβ̞ãn] versus [d̪uˈɾaβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "daban" vs "duraban" - which ranks higher?
"daban" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,298 in our Spanish list, against #41,315 for "duraban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "duraban" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #124,731 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "daban" and "duraban" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duraban vs Durban". 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 #124,731 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