desarrollabanvsdesarrollaronTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,048
“desarrollaban” frequency rank
#13,438
“desarrollaron” frequency rank
51486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desarrollaban desarrollaron
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de desarrollar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de desarrollar o de desarrollarse.

Where the eye mixes desarrollaban and desarrollaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. desarrollaban and desarrollaron follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

13 ch
desarrollaban
13 ch
desarrollaron

Look-alike desk: desarrollaban vs desarrollaron

A purely visual mix-up. desarrollaban ([d̪esaroˈʝaβ̞ãn]) and desarrollaron ([d̪esaroˈʝaɾõn]) 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 51486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desarrollaban is recorded at frequency rank #38,048, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪esaroˈʝaβ̞ãn]. desarrollaron is at rank #13,438, tagged as averb, pronounced [d̪esaroˈʝaɾõn].

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 51486, this pair ranks #97,634 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desarrollaban vs desarrollaron

Shared letters: adelnors. Private to "desarrollaban": b. Private to "desarrollaron": -.

"desarrollaban" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVCVC  ·  "desarrollaron" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desarrollaban ← ddesarrollaban · deasrrollaban · desarollaban · desarorllaban · desarrlolaban · desarrolaban · desarrolalban · desarrollaabn
  • desarrollaron ← ddesarrollaron · deasrrollaron · desarollaron · desarorllaron · desarrlolaron · desarrolalron · desarrolaron · desarrollaorn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "desarrollaban" for "desarrollaron" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([d̪esaroˈʝaβ̞ãn] versus [d̪esaroˈʝaɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "desarrollaban" or "desarrollaron"?
"desarrollaron" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,438 in our Spanish list, against #38,048 for "desarrollaban". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "desarrollaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desarrollaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,634 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "desarrollaban" and "desarrollaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desarrollaban vs desarrollarán". 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 #97,634 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