disputabanvsdisputadaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: disputaban is a verb, disputada is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“disputaban” is a verb and “disputada” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,592
“disputaban” frequency rank
#28,337
“disputada” frequency rank
77929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature disputaban disputada
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de disputar. Forma del femenino de disputado, participio de disputar.

Where the eye mixes disputaban and disputada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
disputaban
9 ch
disputada

Visual trap between disputaban and disputada

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: disputaban is [d̪ispuˈt̪aβ̞ãn] while disputada is [d̪ispuˈt̪að̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

disputaban is recorded at frequency rank #49,592, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪ispuˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. disputada is at rank #28,337, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [d̪ispuˈt̪að̞a].

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 77929, this pair ranks #15,218 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of disputaban vs disputada

Shared letters: adipstu. Private to "disputaban": bn. Private to "disputada": -.

"disputaban" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "disputada" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • disputabanddisputaban · dipsutaban · dispputaban · disptuaban · dispuatban · disputaabn · disputabann · disputabban
  • disputadaddisputada · dipsutada · dispputada · disptuada · dispuatda · disputaad · disputadda · disputdaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "disputaban" and "disputada" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "disputaban" is a verb and "disputada" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "disputaban" vs "disputada" - which ranks higher?
"disputada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,337 in our Spanish list, against #49,592 for "disputaban". 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 "disputaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "disputada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,218 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "disputaban" and "disputada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disputaban vs disputarán". 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 #15,218 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