durabavsdurabanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,323
“duraba” frequency rank
#41,315
“duraban” frequency rank
72638
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duraba duraban
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de durar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de durar.

Where the eye mixes duraba and duraban

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. duraba runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against duraban's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
duraba
7 ch
duraban

Visual trap between duraba and duraban

A purely visual mix-up. duraba ([d̪uˈɾaβ̞a]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “duraba” sits inside “duraban”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duraba is recorded at frequency rank #31,323, classified as averb, pronounced [d̪uˈɾaβ̞a]. 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 72638, this pair ranks #24,948 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of duraba vs duraban

Shared letters: abdru. Private to "duraba": -. Private to "duraban": n.

"duraba" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "duraban" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duraba ← dduraba · druaba · duarba · duraab · durabba · durava · durbaa · durraba
  • duraban ← dduraban · druaban · duarban · duraabn · durabann · durabban · durabna · duravan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "duraba" and "duraban" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([d̪uˈɾaβ̞a] versus [d̪uˈɾaβ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "duraba" vs "duraban" - which ranks higher?
"duraba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,323 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "duraba" and "duraban" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duraba" 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 #24,948 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duraba" 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 #24,948 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